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CHRISTIAN HINDUS. 



Frontisf>iece. 



BITS ABOUT INDIA 



BY / 

MRS. HELEN H. HOLCOMB, 

Of Allahabad, India, 
Author of " Mabel's Summer in the Himalayas. 



4 

f'i 




PHILADELPHIA : 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION 

AND SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK, 

1334 CHESTNUT STREET. 



\\ 






COPYRIGHT, 1888, BY 

THE TRUSTEES OF THE 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION 
AND SABBATH-SCHOOL WORK. 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 



Westcott & Thomson, 
Stereotypers and Electrotypers , Pkilada. 



This little book is full of interesting 
facts about India, its people, its customs, 
its worship, its private and social life — 
the very things that really tell most con- 
cerning a country, and yet the very things 
which most writers are apt to overlook. 
The writer has long been a missionary 
resident in India, and is thoroughly famil- 
iar with the things of which she writes so 
pleasantly. Editor. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. PAGK 

Scenes at an Indian Railway- Station . ii 

CHAPTER II. 
A Morning in an Indian Bazaar 24 

CHAPTER III. 
Wayside Scenes in India 39 

CHAPTER IV. 
Lepers in India • • • 5^ 

CHAPTER V. 
Indian Potters 66 

CHAPTER VI. 
Some Animals in India 74 

CHAPTER VII. 
Some Indian Pests 103 

CHAPTER VIII. 
A Mela or Religious Fair in India 115 

CHAPTER IX. 
A Glimpse of Tent-Life in India 127 

CHAPTER X. 
Eastern Customs 143 

7 



8 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XL page 

Some Superstitions of the People of India .... 154 

CHAPTER Xn. 
A Glimpse of Indian Home-Life 166 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Child-Wives i75 

CHAPTER XIV. 
The Boys of India 184 

CHAPTER XV. 
Christmas in India 200 

CHAPTER XVI. 
A New Year's Day in India 211 

CHAPTER XVII. 
A Church on the River Jumna 217 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Death in a Heathen Household. — The Contrast . 228 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Benares, and its Schools for Heathen Girls . . . 234 

CHAPTER XX. 
Other Schools for Heathen Girls 241 

CHAPTER XXI. 
Schools for Christian Girls 249 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Sacred Beasts and Birds 264 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGB 

Christian Hindus Frontispiece. 

Eastern Women Carrying Water 29 

Scene in an Oriental Bazaar 33 

Oriental Lepers Receiving Alms 53 

Royal Elephant and Trappings 82 

The Ship of the Desert 85 

A Loaded Camel 87 

Tigers 93 

A Leopard ,........• 97 

Jackals loi 

Getting a Breakfast 107 

Akbar's Fort, Allahabad 119 

Women with Water -Jars 131 

Going to the Well 139 

Eastern Water-Merchant i45 

Women at the Mill i49 

Hindu Burial iS' 

Worshiping a Brahman i55 



10 ILL US TRA TIONS. 

PAGE 

A Brahman Family 159 

The Goddess Doorga 163 

Oriental Putting off Shoes 164 

Ganesh, the God of Wisdom 191 

On the River Jhilum 195 

Church on the River Jumna . 219 

Hindu Mother and Daughter 221 

Benares 237 

Mission School in India 245 

Sacred Bull 267 



BITS ABOUT INDIA. 



CHAPTER I. 

SCENES AT AN INDIAN RAILWAY-STATION. 

A FOREIGNER traveling in India can- 
not fail to be impressed with the 
crowds of natives of the country to be 
found at every railway-station. With no 
proper conception of the value of time, 
the native is yet impressed with the fact 
that railway-trains do not wait for tardy 
passengers, and, consequently, hours before 
the departure of a train intending travelers 
may be seen sitting wherever they can find 
space. At large railway-stations, where 
the traffic is great, natives traveling as 
third-class passengers purchase their tick- 
ets at a separate window, and by gates 
well secured are shut off" from the platform 
where other passengers congregate. Thus 
barred out, we often see huddled together 

11 



12 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

like frightened sheep a crowd of people 
waiting for the opening of the window and 
the appearance of the ticket-agent ; then 
they rush wildly forward, and from many 
folds of cloth or other mysterious hiding- 
place bring forth a little heap of treasure 
— the price of their journey — which they 
exchange for a railway-ticket. When all 
have been served, the gates are thrown 
open, and there is a rush toward the train, 
the Brahman and the outcast jostling each 
other in their anxiety to secure a place 
before the impatient iron horse rushes 
away, and the poor bewildered creatures 
run hither and thither, attracted by any 
open door. If by chance they attempt to 
enter a first-class carriage, a reception fre- 
quently awaits them that speedily turns their 
feet in another direction. Some of the 
travelers find the proper place, and, pant- 
ing with excitement, sink down, glad at last 
to have found a spot where they may rest ; 
but like driven sheep others follow until 
the compartment is choked and a railway- 
guard comes to the rescue. Sometimes in 
wild attempts to find a seat the precious 



AN INDIAN RAII WA Y-STA TION. 1 3 

moments are consumed ; the train glides 
out of the station, and leaves staring after 
it with astonished eyes hapless creatures 
who will sit demurely upon the platform 
until the coming of another train. They 
do not make much ado, these patient mor- 
tals. "It is our fate," they sigh; and, con- 
soling themselves with the hookah and sat- 
isfying their hunger with a few handfuls of 
parched grain, they quietly wait. 

The women, looking timidly out from 
under their veils and nervously anxious to 
keep near their male protectors, the orna- 
ments on feet and ankles tinkling musically 
as they shuffle along, always interest me, 
and the children with wondering eyes and 
free, graceful movements are a pretty sight. 
Sometimes a high-caste woman of wealth 
is brought to the train in a litter carried by 
servants, who take their coy burden to the 
very door of the compartment which has 
been previously reserved. The husband 
or some male relative of the lady cautiously 
lifts the curtain of the litter, and the 
closely-veiled female glides in, carefully 
concealing her charms from curious eyes. 



14 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

Occasionally we see figures enveloped in 
long white garments, the face entirely 
covered and only the eyes visible. It is im- 
possible to determine whether these silent 
creatures groping along and carefully guard- 
ed are ancient dames or blooming damsels. 

When it was proposed to introduce rail- 
ways into India, the Brahmans objected to 
the innovation on the ground that pilgrims 
to distant shrines mi^ht avail themselves 
of such a mode of conveyance, and thus 
lose the merit to be acquired from toilsome 
journeying on foot. Their fears were well 
founded, for few trains arrive or depart that 
do not bear pilgrims to some shrine ; and at 
some seasons of the year special trains 
— called "pilgrim-trains" — are necessary, as 
the number of travelers is so great that 
they cannot be conveyed by ordinary 
trains. 

During a mela, or religious festival, the 
scene at a great railway- station defies de- 
scription. There are crowds of pilgrims, men, 
women and children, the rich and the poor, 
the very old and the very young. The same 
train that brings a swarm of pilgrims also 



AN INDIAN RAII WA Y-STA TION 1 5 

carries away a multitude. Many have 
journeyed long distances and are worn and 
weary. To many it Is their first experience 
of railway-travel, and they feel a sense of 
relief when they can once more tread the 
firm earth. When they reach their homes, 
what tales these travelers will have to tell of 
the wonders of the railway — of the strange 
monster of iron and brass, " with wheels 
instead of feet, which eats coal and drinks 
water at every stage, breathes fire and 
smoke, pants like a horse, screams like an 
elephant and is stronger than either" ! 

When the lordly Brahman found that his 
ancient land was not to be exempt from 
that modern abomination the railway, he 
proudly declared that he would not be se- 
duced from the ways of his fathers, and for 
a time he was content to journey by slow 
stages in carts drawn by oxen. But even 
he was forced at last to admit that there 
are advantages in railway-travel ; for His 
Lordship the Brahman, though boasting a 
descent higher than that of kings, has not 
always a plethoric purse, and even his 
mind, supposed to be engrossed in medi- 



1 6 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

tation upon things sacred, could grasp the 
idea that it would certainly be to his advan- 
tage, when necessity required him to travel, 
to make the journey at as small a pecuniary 
cost as possible. But could he travel with 
the common herd ? Such an idea could 
not be entertained for a moment. He 
would condescend to use the railway if 
government would agree to furnish caste 
carriages. Perhaps the authorities ought 
to have been impressed by such a measure 
of condescension, but they were not, and 
firmly refused to make the concession. At 
length these lords of the land yielded to 
the inevitable, and took their journeys In 
the same carriage with ordinary mortals. 
Doubtless the pride of the Brahman was 
sorely wounded and with a bad grace he 
submitted to the indignity at the outset, 
but now he accepts without remonstrance 
a condition of thinors which he finds himself 

o 

powerless to remedy. 

Wealthy natives sometimes travel in 
great state — not infrequently in reserved 
carriages — and a native prince sometimes 
aspires to the dignity of a special train. A 



AN INDIAN RAILWAY-STATION. 1/ 

railway-train usually makes long halts at 
the more important cities along the route. 
At such times I have frequently seen a 
native gentleman arrayed in flowing robes 
richly embroidered and turban of vast di- 
mensions ali2"ht from a first-class reserved 

o 

carriage and with haughty mien, not con- 
descending to be interested or amused by 
anything that was passing around him, 
walk up and down the platform, never very 
far from his own carriage and followed by a 
small army of retainers in nondescript livery. 
Sometimes thrown gracefully over the shoul- 
ders of one of these gentlemen we see a 
superb Kashmir shawl. Some of these 
elegant gentry are native princes on their 
way to Simla or Calcutta to pay their re- 
spects to the viceroy ; others are making a 
pilgrimage to some famous shrine. Less 
important persons of wealth are content 
with a seat in a first-class carriage. 

The great majority of travelers, however, 
high caste as well as low caste, travel as 
third-class passengers, and very uncom- 
fortable they look, for the third-class pas- 
senger-carriages are often literally packed. 

2 



1 8 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

A carriage Is divided into several compart- 
ments, separated only by an iron grating, 
and every seat usually holds its full com- 
plement of passengers. Into these com- 
partments, when trains arrive, are hurried 
people of all castes and creeds, women as 
well as men. A traveler's luggage usually 
consists of a bundle, which he carries slung 
over his shoulder ; but when the space 
assigned to each passenger is so limited, it 
is not easy to find room even for his small 
possessions. Occasionally we see a railway- 
carriage with a low upper story, and on the 
floor, as closely as they can be packed, sit 
travelers looking through the gratings down 
upon the world below with as much com- 
plaisance as though the situation were com- 
fortable in the extreme. 

Whenever a train arrives at a station, 
from every window, as soon as the train is 
at rest, heads are thrust and arms extended, 
each hand grasping a small brass vessel, 
and on every side are heard clamorous 
cries for water — cries which become more 
urgent as the thirsty travelers begin to fear 
that the train will rush away leaving their 



AN INDIAN RAILWAY-STATION. 1 9 

thirst unquenched. Water-carriers are at 
the stations upon the arrival of every train, 
their water-bottles slung across their backs, 
ready to answer these clamorous cries. 
Venders of sweetmeats and fruit also im- 
prove the time while trains are halting to 
supply travelers, and, as in these days so 
many are able to read, we see books and 
tracts offered for sale at the railway-trains, 
and they find ready purchasers. 

Some of the lines of rail are furnished 
with " zenana-carriages," and in these na- 
tive ladies travel with some degree of 
comfort and with the privacy they esteem 
so desirable. When such accommodation 
is lacking, high-caste ladies of wealth 
usually ride in reserved compartments, and 
there, secure from intrusion, they can look 
out upon the world of which they know so 
little, and can enjoy with the fresh delight 
of children the wonderful things around 
them. 

The husband of a native lady of my 
acquaintance has employment in one of the 
offices connected with the government of 
the North-west Provinces, and accompanies 



20 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

his superior to Naina-Tal during the hot 
months. His wife, a clever and cheery 
Httle woman, looks forward with pleasant 
anticipations to these annual flittings. She 
enjoys the ride in a reserved compartment 
of a railway-carriage to the foot of the 
hills ; the journey up the mountains to the 
beautiful town of Naini-Tal is full of de- 
lightful excitement for her, and the life in 
the mountains, so unlike the monotonous 
life of the plains, is not less agreeable. I 
saw this lady just before she left her home 
to spend the summer in the mountains, and 
in the prospect she seemed as happy as a 
child. 

" How do you spend your time when in 
the mountains?" I asked. 

The little lady took from a niche in the 
wall her store of books, a large proportion 
of which were Christian books which she 
had purchased from a lady who pays her 
occasional visits to give her instruction. 
Putting these into my hands, she said, 

" I read ; and when I am tired, I em- 
broider;" and, going into an inner room, 
my friend brought from thence for my 



AN INDIAN RAILWAY-STATION. 21 

inspection several pieces of delicate lace 
embroidery- work. 

Although the fare for third-class passen- 
gers is very low, yet, because of the great 
numbers who avail themselves of this cheap 
and easy mode of transit, the railway- 
companies find the sale of third-class tick- 
ets one of their chief sources of revenue. 
The directors of one of the great railway- 
lines in India met not lono- since in London 

o 

for the transaction of business. Upon an 
examination of the yearly accounts it was 
found that the receipts had fallen off con- 
siderably, and in explanation it was alleged 
that the year just closed had been declared 
by the Hindu astrologers as unpropitious 
for marriages among Hindus, and that in 
consequence the number of third-class 
passengers had been much smaller than 
during previous years. In order to en- 
courage to the fullest possible extent rail- 
way-traveling among the masses, many of 
the lines of rail have reduced the fare for 
third-class passengers to less than half a 
cent per mile. 

But the natives of India are not the only 



22 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

travelers by rail : there are European 
travelers not a few. Some are strangers 
journeying for pleasure — these are our 
cold-weather birds of passage — but the larg- 
er proportion are those whose homes for 
a season are here. Some are just entering 
upon life and service in India, and for such 
everything is invested with the charm of 
novelty ; others are returning to the lands 
from whence they came, and, worn with 
toil or suffering from ill-health, India has 
lost all attraction for them. When the hot 
season opens, the tide of travel is toward 
the mountains or the sea. Anxious mothers 
take to the mountains little children thin 
and pale, and after a few months spent in 
the cool and healthful climate of the Hima- 
layas bring back their little ones with round- 
ed limbs and cheeks rosy with health. 

A long railway-journey in the heat of an 
Indian summer not only is very trying, but 
travelers sometimes succumb to the heat. 
A lady recently traveling alone from Bom- 
bay to Madras was found dead in the 
railway-carriage just before the train reached 
Madras. On his round the ticket-con- 



AN INDIAN RAIL WA Y-STA TION 23 

ductor saw the lady lying on one of the 
seats, apparently asleep, and tapped loudly 
at the door, but, falling to arouse her, 
entered the compartment, and found the 
lady, not asleep, but quite dead. The body 
and the luggage belonging to the lady were 
removed from the train and retained at the 
station. A medical officer was summoned, 
and an examination proved that the lady 
had died from heat-apoplexy. The body 
of the stranger was committed to the grave 
the same evening. 

During the summer of one of the earlier 
years of our life in India we made a journey 
to the Himalayas. Stepping from the rail- 
way-train at the close of a day of great 
heat, we saw the door of the compartment 
adjoining our own thrown open, and a 
gentleman was found there in a state of 
insensibility, stricken down by the terrible 
heat. With the appliances at present in 
use for reducing the heat in railway-car- 
riages, such cases of prostration are less 
frequent than formerly they were. 



CHAPTER II. 

A MORNING IN AN INDIAN BAZAAR. 

COME with me this morning into the 
city, that you may have a ghmpse of 
an Indian bazaar. I will lend you a covered 
umbrella and a sun-hat, and, if your eyes 
are sensitive, tinted glasses also, for the 
glare in this fierce heat is dazzling. We 
are two miles or more from the city, and 
at this season of the year much walking is 
impossible. We must drive, of course, 
and, as the carriage is at the door, let us 
go at once. 

The long lines of men and women bear- 
ing baskets on their heads are on the way 
to market. The greater number, you see, 
are women ; they carry heavy loads, but 
maintain an erect, and even a graceful, 
carriage, and are very picturesque in their 
costume. Look at that woman in scarlet 
attire. The one long piece of cloth which 

24 . 



A MORNING IN AN INDIAN BAZAAR. 2$ 

serves the purpose of skirt, jacket and 
covering for the head is defdy, and even 
artistically, arranged, leaving only the face 
exposed, and is kept in place without the 
aid of needle, pin, hook, string or button. 
From the right arm, uplifted to steady the 
basket of golden melons, the drapery falls 
away, revealing the brown arm covered 
halfway to the elbow with bracelets — not, 
indeed, of precious metal, but of shellac, 
gay in color and ornamented with beads. 
Her feet are bare, but upon her ankles 
there are bands and upon her toes rings 
that make a tinkling sound as she moves 
along. Some of the women are dressed in 
blue, some in yellow and some in soiled 
w^hite garments ; but the drapery of all is 
arranged in the same fashion. 

There is a man carrying a large bundle 
upon his head, but he walks along ap- 
parently unconscious of his load, his hands 
hanging by his side, and so erect in car- 
riage that his perfectly-poised bundle is in 
no danger of falling. 

Here comes a fine carriage drawn by a 
pair of spirited horses. There are out- 



26 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

riders in gorgeous livery, and, sitting in 
state, like a king on his throne, is a fair 
boy seven or eight years of age, richly 
dressed and covered with ornaments. That 
is the cherished son of some wealthy Hindu 
out for his morning airing. 

Just behind the handsome carriage comes 
creaking along a rude cart with ponderous 
wooden wheels and drawn by bullocks with 
large humps between their shoulders. Over 
the framework which crowns the top a 
faded red cover is thrown. Under that 
dingy awning, seated on the bottom of the 
cart, is a company of women and girls on 
their way to the Ganges to bathe. They 
are as merry as children out for a holiday, 
and as the clumsy vehicle creaks past us 
we hear ripples of laughter low and musi- 
cal. 

Here comes dashing by us a curious 
conveyance drawn by a very small native 
pony. Every inch of space in the vehicle 
seems appropriated, and hanging over the 
front and dangling down the sides are a 
marvelous number of human limbs. You 
are surprised at the whiteness of the rai- 



A MORNING IN AN INDIAN BAZAAR. 2 J 

ment and at the glossy blackness of the 
shoes. These men are writers in govern- 
ment offices, and they must appear in spot- 
less apparel before their superiors. But 
you would be astonished could you see the 
homes from which faultlessly-attired native 
gentlemen come; many of them are mere 
mud hovels destitute of furniture, and your 
fine gendeman sits on the ground to partake 
of his food, which he conveys to his mouth 
with the fingers of his right hand. Yet 
there is some state connected with even so 
simple a repast, for the wife serves her 
husband, sitdng or standing reverentially 
behind him, ready to obey his slightest 
command, and glad, poor soul ! to appease 
her own hunorer when her lord and master 
has satisfied his wants and retired from the 
scene. 

Under that large umbrella made of bam- 
boo splints, with the handle stuck in the 
ground, sits a shoemaker busily plying his 
trade, and here comes a customer — a 
traveler who is o^lad to have his worn 
sandals repaired while he rests by the 
roadside and refreshes himself wnth his 



28 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

hookah. There is a well opposite, and the 
traveler has his own brass vessel and a 
lonof strong cord with which to let down his 
cup into the cool depths below and bring 
up pure, sweet w^ater with which to quench 
his thirst. 

But look at that woman stepping away 
from the well, a large brass vessel filled 
with water poised upon her head. Re- 
bekah at the well, so long ago, must have 
presented to Abraham's trusted servant 
just such a picture as this woman furnishes 
us with to-day. On that broad platform of 
masonry around the well, where so many 
women are now waiting to fill their water- 
jars, travelers often sit to rest, as the 
Saviour, weary with his journey, sat by 
Sychar's well and conversed with the wo- 
man of Samaria. 

Close beside the well is a temple. Look 
at those women pressing into it. One of 
the number leads by the hand a pretty 
little girl. The brass cup which the mother 
carries is filled with water from the Ganges, 
which she will pour over the idol, and the 
garland of fragrant wdiite blossoms in the 




EASTERN WOMEN CARRYING WATER. 



30 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

hand of the httle maiden will be presented 
to the temple-divinity. 

There is a poor leper sitting by the wayside 
begging. He holds up to view his maimed 
hands and utters piteous cries, but it will 
not be a kindness to bestow alms upon 
him. For such afflicted ones there is an 
asylum outside the city where all their 
needs are supplied, where they are nursed 
in sickness, and where, also, they are in- 
structed by those who have a care for their 
souls as well as for their bodies. Yet this 
man prefers to beg ; he likes the freedom 
of such a life, and perhaps finds his calling 
profitable. 

A blind man led by a small boy is follow- 
ing our carriage, and now a wretched- 
looking woman with a puny babe in her 
arms rushes toward us. For the blind man 
as well as for the leper there is a refuge 
where his physical wants will be supplied, 
but this life is his choice ; and the woman 
with that miserable infant is a professional 
beggar, and I question if she would esteem 
it a blessing could her afflicted child be 
made perfectly whole, since she gains a 



A MORNING IN AN INDIAN BAZAAR. 3 1 

livelihood by the public exhibition of its 
deformities. 

But here we are in the city. And what 
a tumult! All the roads leading to the 
market-place are thronged with people. 
Those women with large wicker baskets 
filled with water-jars upon their heads have 
come from villages where potters ply their 
trade. Those men bearing boxes upon 
their heads are starting out for a day's 
peddling ; they will go from bungalow to 
bungalow, offering for sale a strange assort- 
ment of articles — writing-paper and hair- 
brushes, castor-oil and ribbons, corn-flour 
and shoe-blacking. The postmen collect- 
ing mail-matter from the letter-boxes are 
all mounted on bicycles — a great saving of 
time and of strength. There is no lack of 
policemen, but activity is not one of their 
distinguishing virtues. Their gay livery, 
however, furnishes a cheerful bit of color 
— scarlet turban, blue blouse and orange 
trousers. 

Here is a wedding-procession. The 
bridegroom is but a child, yet he looks 
very grave sitting under his gilded canopy, 



32 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

as if he fully appreciated the dignity of his 
position. The wail that is borne to our 
ears is from a funeral- train ; for here, as in 
other lands, joy and sorrow meet. 

The shops are open. Here are native 
tailors quite at home in the use of sewing- 
machines — imported, of course, from Eu- 
rope. Here is a money-changer, his heaps 
of small coin and shells on a low table 
before him. Look at that cloth-merchant 
sitting cross-legged on the floor, his cus- 
tomer seated opposite him and the cloth 
he is displaying spread out between them. 
The merchant has about his neck a massive 
gold chain, though his raiment is scanty. 
The pretty little boy in gold-embroidered 
tunic and wearing so many and such costly 
ornaments is the merchant's son, and the 
father is evidently very proud of his dar- 
ling. 

In this shop close at hand I have an er- 
rand. A servant has entered just before 
us ; he has returned a glass dish that has 
been sent to his master on inspection. The 
merchant, rising to serve us, finds it neces- 
sary to remove this article. "Why does he 



34 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

pour water over his hands?" you ask? 
Listen to his explanation : 

" I am. a Brahman, and by the rules of 
my caste am defiled by touching anything 
that has come in contact with a person of 
inferior caste." 

" But you are an intelligent man, and 
know that real purity is not lost by such 
outward contact." 

" I know — I know," our high-caste friend 
replies; "but if I do not observe these 
ceremonies, I shall be put out of caste, 
and that would be a calamity indeed. But 
there is less bondage to caste than there was 
a few years ago, when I began my career as a 
merchant. My father was very angry then 
because my stock in trade included some 
articles regarded by the Brahmans as un- 
clean, but I knew there was no help for it 
if I would compete successfully with other 
business-men. Now no one thinks or 
speaks of such things." 

The shop just beyond this one is kept by 
a Moslem. That pleasant-faced young lad 
seated on a mat outside the door and 
swaying backward and forward, an open 



A MORNING IN AN INDIAN BAZAAR. 35 

book before him, is reading the Koran. I 
often see him here in the morning, his 
tongue moving just as ghbly as at present. 
His father is engaged in his devotions, his 
face toward Mecca. You perhaps wonder 
why he does not choose a less pubUc place 
for such a service. He is like the hypo- 
crites of old : he prays to be seen of men ; 
and, though apparently so devout, he has a 
keen eye to business, and will not allow 
his prayers to interfere with his chance of 
securing a customer. We will not disturb 
him, however, but will make our purchases 
elsewhere. But no ! He sees that we are 
about to retire, and beckons us to enter. 
Intent upon driving a shrewd bargain as 
we shall find him, it will be difficult to 
realize that he has just risen from his 
knees. 

I must call at a banking-house not far 
from this shop, but I will not detain you 
long. "Do I call this a banking-house?" 
Yes, a long-established and very prosper- 
ous one. The men sitting cross-legged 
against the wall, with low desks before 
them and great books across their knees, 



36 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

are members of one family. The head of 
the estabHshment — without whose advice 
and approval no important venture is made 
— is an old man, the father of several sons, 
all engaged with him in business, as are 
also some of the grandsons. They dwell 
together as one family, though they number 
several generations. Sad to say, they are 
all devout Hindus — at least, outwardly so. 
Yet how much real devotion or sincerity 
there may be in their worship it is not so 
easy to tell. 

Let us now turn our steps toward the 
market. A troublesome woman who some- 
times brino^s fruit to the bunoalow for sale 
has followed us. 

" Buy my lichees," she says ; " they are 
very sweet." 

" So you said when I purchased from you 
a few days ago, but they were so sour they 
could not be eaten." 

Comine nearer, taking the basket from 
her head and placing it on the ground, she 
holds up before us a handful of lichees, 
saying in a very persuasive tone, 

" If these be not sweet, may the son of 



A MORNING IN AN INDIAN BAZAAR. 37 

my heart be taken away at a stroke!" 
Then, after a pause, she adds, ** Buy ; and 
if you find the fruit not fresh and sweet, 
you may give me a hundred blows with 
your shoe." 

This last, she thinks, will assuredly im- 
press us with the truth of her assertion; 
for to receive a castieation with a shoe is 
regarded as a great indignity. Yet we 
know the arts of her trade too well to rate 
very highly even such extravagant assev- 
erations as this ; so we are not persuaded 
to buy her lichees. 

Now a man confronts us. 

" My fruit is really excellent," he says, in 
a very earnest tone and manner. 

While we stop to examine it another 
hawker, equally anxious to serve us, presses 
up and says, 

" My fruit is quite as good, and much 
cheaper." 

Now a woman's shrill voice calls out, " Buy 
my fruit because I am old and poor;" and 
rising up from the midst of her baskets is 
an old woman who shows us her w^iite 
locks. 



38 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

"Will you not take pity upon my old 
age and feebleness ?" she cries out. 

Let us purchase our supplies from this 
woman, and then retreat from such a babel ; 
for it is growing late, and the heat is be- 
coming very oppressive. We will now 
close the sliding-doors of the carriage and 
drive home with as little delay as possible. 
We have had glimpses enough of the 
scenes in an Indian bazaar to give us a 
fair conception of what it is like. 



CHAPTER III. 

WA YSIDE SCENES IN INDIA. 

THE year in India Is divided Into three 
seasons — the cold season, the hot sea- 
son and the rainy season. In North India, 
during the hot season, " the winds blow 
flames." All work outside and all business 
in which Europeans are engaged, whether 
in offices, in schools or in shops, is trans- 
acted, as far as possible, in the morning, or 
in the evening after the heat of the day has 
somewhat abated. Day after day and week 
after week the sun rides through a brazen 
sky. The earth is parched and there Is no 
beauty to delight the eye. But when the 
rainy season comes, the whole face of na- 
ture is changed, and as if by magic the bare 
brown earth is covered with a mantle of 
green, flowers burst into bloom and every- 
thing is instinct with life. At this season 

39 



40 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

the husbandmen are busy In their fields, 
preparing the ground and sowing the seed. 
Some of the hills not far from our bun- 
galow are covered with luxuriant vines bear- 
ing a large coarse cucumber which is much 
relished by the people. Every morning we 
see the busy owners of these fields filling 
large baskets with cucumbers for the mar- 
ket. In every such field we see just what 
is mentioned in Scripture — "a lodge in a 
garden of cucumbers." A few light poles 
are stuck into the ground and tied together 
with coarse twine or bark, and the whole is 
covered with a roof of straw. Such a lodee 
has an occupant by night as well as by day 
until the produce of the field has all been 
secured. When the watcher, relieved from 
his vigils, lies down to sleep, he wraps him- 
self from head to foot in a sheet or blanket, 
until he looks like a mummy ; when he 
wakens, he shakes himself free from his 
covering, and his toilet is made. Some- 
times the wife comes to cook food for her 
husband and her sons, but frequently they 
prepare their own food. As many of these 
fields are close to the roadside, passers-by 



WAYSIDE SCENES IN INDIA. 4 1 

frequently stop to purchase, and the monot- 
ony of the day's vigil is thus relieved. 

In the fields in v^hich cucumbers are nov^ 
growing v^^heat and other grains v^ill soon 
be sov^n. The cold season in India is the 
season of fruit and flowers. The gardens 
produce vegetables in variety and abun- 
dance ; in the fields rich stores of grain 
are ripening. At this season, in all the 
fields, lodges may be seen. To the little 
perch under the thatch the watcher climbs, 
and here the owner of the field, relieved 
by some member of his family or a trust- 
ed servant, spends his time day and night 
until the ripening grain is gathered. The 
lodge is then abandoned, but the store of 
precious grain is guarded until the oxen 
have trodden out the corn and the last 
measure has been removed from the field. 
Durincr the time of threshinor and winnow- 
ing the owner sleeps in the midst of his 
" heap of corn," as did Boaz. 

As we have passed such fields after 
nightfall we have seen the glow of little 
fires by which food was being prepared, 
and around which the owners of the erain 



42 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

sat in groups, chatting and smoking the 
hookah. 

Some of the roads in this part of India 
are bordered by mango trees. These trees 
are the property of government, and each 
year the unripe fruit is sold upon the trees 
to persons who watch the fruit until it ma- 
tures. The mango is prized not only by 
natives of India, but by Europeans also, 
and therefore finds ready sale. From 
April until July, while the fruit is ripen- 
ing under these trees by the road side we see 
booths made sometimes of the branches of 
trees and sometimes like the lodges now in 
the fields. Under many of the trees, as 
the branches are low and widespreading 
and the foliage heavy, there is only the rude 
cot upon which the guardian of the trees sits 
by day and on which he rests at night. Some- 
times, under one of these great trees, an 
entire family take up their abode while the 
fruit is ripening. The father watches sharp- 
ly the boys and the birds whose covetous 
eyes are upon the fruit which he hopes in 
due time to turn into silver. The mother 
prepares the food — not a difficult matter, 



WA YSIDE SCENES IN INDIA. 43 

though the mouths may be many. A Httle 
range of mud Is easily made, and a handful 
of twigs, which the children gather, cooks 
the ddl ; the mother kneads thin cakes for 
bread, which are quickly baked on the coals, 
and the meal Is ready. The father and the 
sons are served sitting upon the ground and 
using only their fingers to convey the food 
to the mouth ; when their hunger has been 
appeased, the other members of the fam- 
ily cluster eagerly around. In these frugal 
households there is no surplus, and soon the 
last morsel has disappeared. With a little 
water and the fine earth at her feet the 
mother then scours the vessels that have 
been used and carefully stows them away. 
This work done, she sits idly upon the 
ground, plays with her children or lazily 
turns her spinning-wheel. The little ones 
sport under the trees or wander away to 
visit children living under neighboring trees. 
In this idle way these poor people are quite 
content to pass their time. 

The fruit so carefully guarded is sold as 
it ripens. Passing travelers make small 
purchases, giving with their price such 



44 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

items of news as they have picked up by 
the way. Men come with empty baskets, 
which after much bargaining they carry 
away on their heads fihed with luscious 
fruit, which they sell from house to house 
or carry at once to the public market. 
Servants come to buy fresh fruit for the 
table of their masters. This is the reap- 
ing-time, and the owners of the fruit find 
pleasant occupation in counting their gains. 
It is an anxious, patience-trying time as 
well, for the crow — which gains a livelihood 
by pilfering, which it pursues as a lawful 
calling — seems as fond of the rich golden 
fruit of the maneo tree as does man him- 
self, and quite as determined to have its 
full share ; so that through all the day, and 
even into the night, the shrill voices of the 
guardians of the richly-laden trees are 
mingled with the shriller cries of the im- 
pudent crows. Not infrequently the birds 
become so bold that they pay little heed to 
the hoarsest shouting ; then smooth stones 
sent from a sline with skillful hand are 
freely used. 

Under a mango tree close to the road- 



WA YSIDE SCENES IN INDIA. 45 

side, and not far from our bungalow, lived 
a man for two or three months watching 
the fruit on the boughs above him. This 
man did not enjoy the luxury of a bed, 
but when he slept he spread on the ground 
a mat or a strip of coarse cloth. His wife 
brought his food and spent a part of each 
clay under the tree, busy with her little 
spinning-wheel. 

An Oriental knows nothing of the value 
of time, and idly waits weeks, and even 
months, for the grain in the fields to mature 
or the fruit on the trees to ripen, taking 
little more note of time than do the birds 
sinorinor in the branches above him. A 
servant, when sent on an errand, will not 
mind waiting a whole day for an answer, 
provided he can find near at hand a bazaar 
where he may purchase a few handfuls 
of parched grain with which to satisfy his 
hunofer. 

Through the grounds of a gentleman 
whose home is in a pretty village at the 
foot of a low range of mountains in the 
North of India flows a stream which during 
the rains is wide and deep, but whose bed 



46 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

during the hot season is often quite dry. 
One day, after a very heavy shower, the 
gentleman, walking through his grounds, 
found the bed of the stream full and the 
water tumbling and dashing over the rocks 
at a furious rate. By the side of the stream 
sat several boys. 

"What are you doing here?" asked the 
gentleman. 

"Waiting for the brook to run dry, so 
that we can pass over," answered one of 
the boys ; and in a few hours the bed of 
the stream was again empty, and the boys 
passed over dry-shod. 

At no great distance from our house 
is one of the branch post-offtces of the 
city. On the ground in front of this office 
a mat is spread, and upon it sits a man day 
after day, by his side a reed pen and an 
inkstand of curious shape, and between two 
stones, fluttering in the wind, a sheet of 
paper. This man is a public scribe. The 
mat on which he sits with his feet drawn 
up close to his body is his place of business, 
and the writinof-materials about him are his 
advertisement. Only a small proportion 



WA YSIDE SCENES IN INDIA. 47 

of the people of India can read or write ; 
and when a person wishes to send tidings 
to a friend or to an absent member of his 
household, he is glad to employ one of 
these scribes. Sitting on the mat in front 
of this functionary, he delivers his message, 
and the scribe writes to his dictation, some- 
times suggesting a topic if the person is at 
a loss for a subject. Passers-by frequently 
stop and, sitting down by the parties, listen 
to what is said ; for family matters are 
public property in the East. When the 
letter is finished, it is directed and sealed, 
a small price is paid to the scribe for the 
service rendered, and the man goes on his 
way much relieved that so important a task 
has been completed, and probably wonder- 
ing how that bit of paper with its curious 
signs can convey his thoughts to a person 
so far away. When the letter reaches its 
destination, the receiver will probably be 
unable to read it ; it is therefore carried to 
a scribe, or to some acquaintance who has 
learned to write, and in this way the person 
interested becomes acquainted with its 
contents. 



48 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

In India, as In other countries where the 
railway has been introduced, the mails are 
carried by this means, but in such parts of 
the country as have not yet been penetrated 
by the railway, and especially in the moun- 
tainous regions, letters are often carried by 
runners. One man carries the mail-matter 
entrusted to him a certain number of miles, 
where it is delivered to a second carrier, 
and so on, until it reaches its destination. 
The runners wait at each stage until they 
receive the return-mail, which is carried in 
the same manner. Sometimes one man 
runs alone, and sometimes several run 
together if there is a laroe amount of mail- 
matter or if the road to be traversed is one 
of peculiar danger. Each carrier is supplied 
with a long pole, at one end of which are 
suspended the sealed mail-bags and to the 
opposite end of which are attached several 
brass rinors, which make a tinkling sound 
as the runner hurries along, thus announcing 
his approach. This sound is also supposed 
to frighten away wild animals. The low 
and marshy lands of India are infested with 
serpents, while in the forests and the moun- 



IFA YSIDE SCNES IN INDIA. 49 

tainous regions are found bears, tigers, and 
even wild elephants. When the mail-car- 
riers are seen approaching, travelers on the 
road step aside to let them pass ; for all 
understand that these men must not be 
hindered in their journey. 

A few years ago, when we were travel- 
ing in the Himalayas, we saw one day 
coming down the steep mountain-path a 
company of post-carriers ; they were mov- 
ing along with the trotting gait peculiar to this 
class of persons. Each carrier was armed 
with a pole, from one end of which were 
suspended the mail-bags, while the brass 
rings on the opposite end kept up a tinkling 
sound which the wind bore back to us lone 
after the carriers had passed. On another 
occasion when in the Himalayas, looking 
out after nightfall from the veranda of the 
rest-house where we were spending the 
night, we saw far up the mountain-side the 
glimmer of a torch. We had that day 
passed over the same road, and knew that 
the path was narrow and dangerous. We 
watched the flickering light as it moved 
toward us. Sometimes we lost sight of it 



50 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

as the bearer followed some curve in the 
mountain-path, then the light gleamed out 
lower down the mountain and nearer us, 
until at length it passed the bungalow and 
was lost in the darkness beyond. It was 
the torch of the post-carrier hastening on 
his way with his precious burden — letters of 
business, of sympathy, of love, which will 
go out on their errands, some of them 
across seas and to the ends of the earth. 

When traveling through the Valley of 
Kashmir our tents on one occasion were 
pitched for the night on a grassy spot under 
some laree lime trees and not far from the 
roadside. Just at nightfall we saw a man 
hastening along the road, looking neither 
to the right hand nor to the left. He did 
not carry the pole with which the bearers 
of the mail are usually armed, but slung 
over his shoulder was a gun. 

" Where are you going in such haste ?" 
was asked, but the man returned no an- 
swer. 

Some one standing by said, 

" That is one of the maharajah's postmen 
carrying tidings from Srinagar, the capital, 



WA YSIDE SCENES IN INDIA. 5 1 

to Jama, where the maharajah Hves ; and' 
these men must not be detained even to 
answer questions, for the king's business 
requires haste." 

Thus we get glimpses of some of the 
common wayside scenes in India. 



CHAPTER IV. 

LEPERS IN INDIA. 

LEPROSY in India is painfully preva- 
^ lent, and is found both in the moun- 
tains and in the plains. It is said that there 
are in India at least one hundred and 
twenty-five thousand sufferers from lepro- 
sy, and some authorities place the number 
much higher. The condition of no class 
of persons is so deplorable as is that of 
the lepers. Not only are they the victims 
of a loathsome and incurable disease, their 
life a living death, but they are outcasts, 
homeless and helpless. When this terrible 
malady makes its appearance in a member 
of a household, the afflicted one is cast out 
by his friends. In the selfish creed of the 
Hindus there is no place for compassion. 
*' How shall mortals pity those with whom 
the gods are angry?" they coldly question ; 

52 



54 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

and so from the home where he has been 
loved and honored the leper goes a hope- 
less, friendless outcast. Henceforth no 
door opens to welcome him and no voice 
falls upon his ear in accents of kindness. 
Unable to toil, he begs, sitting by the way- 
side, and sleeps where night overtakes 
him. To satisfy his hunger he gladly takes 
such food as is thrown to him. No fear of 
defilement now, for who so vile as he ? 
And so the months and the years drag 
wearily on, the awful disease doing its 
deadly work, until the maim.ed and scarred 
stump that remains scarcely seems the 
tenement of a human soul. 

The people of India provide asylums 
and hospitals for animals, but to relieve 
the sufferinors of their stricken fellow- creat- 
ures they feel no responsibility. Yet, 
though the inhabitants of this land are 
thus indifferent to the woes of their coun- 
trymen, the children of Christian England 
have been moved to pity, and all over the 
land there are now asylums for lepers. 
Many of these asylums, though receivinor 
grants-in-aid from government, are under 



LEPERS IN INDIA. 55 

the superintendence of Christian mission- 
aries, who, while dispensing- the bounty 
put into their hands for the physical relief 
of the sufferers, have also a care for their 
immortal souls. Some of the most devoted 
missionaries that India has known have 
been especially interested in the lepers. 
Durinor the last decade the work has been 
greatly extended, and has produced most 
gratifying results. Lepers as a class are 
accessible, and receive the glad tidings 
with peculiar joy. 

The litde town of Almora, hidden away 
in the Himalayas, has a large asylum for 
lepers — one of the oldest in India. On 
the terraced mountain-sides are rows of 
pleasant barracks where they dwell, and to 
those who are able to labor a little plot of 
land is given for a garden. From this 
asylum there has been a large ingathering 
of converts. At one time, when there were 
sheltered within this home one hundred 
and thirty-six lepers, eighty of the number 
were professing Christians. As all the 
lepers. Christian and non-Christian, receive 
like treatment, there can be no selfish 



56 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

motive to induce them to profess a faith 
which they do not possess. 

Not long since we paid a visit to Almora, 
and one morning saw the poor lepers in 
their homes. The older and more infirm 
members of this sad community were sitting 
idly in the pleasant sunshine ; others were 
busy in their little gardens, while some of 
the women were trying to sew, and looked 
up with a patient smile as we watched their 
efforts to draw the needle in and out with 
their poor maimed hands. It was our 
privilege on a Sabbath during our visit to 
worship in the little chapel where daily 
for prayers and Christian instruction, as 
well as for special religious services on 
the Sabbath, the lepers assemble. 

It was a lovely afternoon when we were 
borne over the hills along shady paths to 
the asylum-grounds. As we reached the 
crest of a hill, looking across a glen to a 
hillside opposite, we saw among the trees 
the long lines of neat barracks provided for 
the lepers. Higher up the hill, and stand- 
ing a little apart, was the house occupied 
by the superintendent, a Christian native, 



LEPERS IN INDIA. 57 

who, with his wife, has long assisted in the 
care of these lepers. 

Surrounded by trees was the pretty 
chapel, and on the clear air was borne to 
us the sound of a bell calling together the 
worshipers. When we reached the chapel, 
we found waiting to receive us the veteran 
missionary, the Rev. J. H. Budden, who for 
more than thirty years has labored to make 
briorhter the lives of these sufferino- ones 
and to point them to the Saviour. 

The congregation was already assembled 
when we entered the sanctuary, the lepers 
seated in rows upon the neatly matted 
floor. Through the open doors and win- 
dows the sunlight streamed and the pure, 
fraerant mountain-air was wafted in. The 
birds chirped musically outside and the 
wind whistled softly through the pines. It 
was a sad congregation — all lepers with 
the exception of the faithful shepherd of 
the flock, the native superintendent and his 
family and the one visitor. The women 
were wrapped in the sheet-like covering 
commonly worn by the women of the 
country, and this friendly garment served 



58 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

in some measure to hide from curious eyes 
the ravages of the dreadful disease which 
was slowly consuming- them. The faces 
of some of the men were so marred that 
it was painful to look upon them. Some 
had lost their hands, others were crippled 
in their feet. 

The CO ncr relation was a reverent one ; 
the heads of the worshipers bowed low in 
prayer. A psalm was read responsively, and 
in this part of the service the congregation 
joined heartily. In the singing, too, they 
evidently took delight, and attentively they 
listened as the word was expounded. A 
solemn communion service followed, the 
lepers alone partaking. At the close of the 
service a collection-plate was passed, and no 
one could look unmoved upon the offerings 
cast into the treasury of the Lord — small, 
indeed, as man's eye regarded them, but, 
bestowed out of their deep poverty, they 
were in the eyes of the Master, like the 
mite of the poor widow, greater than the 
gifts of the rich. 

Near us sat an old man, a leper and blind ; 
by his side was a young man whose fair face 



LEPERS IN INDIA. 59 

showed no trace of the foul disease vv^hich 
had made him in his youth a despised out- 
cast. When the offerings were being made, 
this young man Hfted from the floor, where 
they had been placed during the service, 
some copper coins, and put them into the 
hand of the bHnd man, that he might pre- 
sent his own offerings. 

At the conclusion of the service, we passed 
down the aisle between the rows of wor- 
shipers, and then out again into the sun- 
shine, with thankful hearts for bodies phy- 
sically whole. 

The late Rev. James Vaughan, who was 
gready interested in the lepers in Calcutta, 
says, in an account of his work, '' After 
prayerful, patient, persevering work among 
them, one convert rewarded our efforts. 
Very soon others laid hold on Christ, and 
the leper asylum contained a leper church, 
as these interesting converts fitted up, at 
their own expense, one end of their ward 
as a church ; and I can truly say that some 
of the happiest moments of my life have 
been spent in ministering to those poor suf- 
ferers in that little sanctuary. No service 



6o BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

could be more solemnly interesting than the 
administration of the Lord's Supper to that 
little band of maimed believers. Some had 
no hands, others no feet, several were blind ; 
but to see them kneeling upon their clean 
mats around the table, to see the spirit of 
devotion which actuated them, whilst every 
now and then a tear of grateful love fell 
from their eyes, was a sight to do one good. 
Many a time have I returned from such a 
service blessing God that he ever led me to 
eno-aee in so hallowed a work. Before I 
left Calcutta it had been my happiness to 
have baptized upward of forty of these poor 
people. Brighter specimens of Christian 
faith and love and devotion I never wit- 
nessed than I have seen among these 
forty." 

One case mentioned is that of a woman 
of high caste and good family. She had been 
a devoted Hindu, and for many years led the 
life of a pilgrim. An outcast, under the 
power of the terrible disease, she found a 
home in the leper asylum in Calcutta, and 
there found Jesus. After her conversion 
she learned to read, and her Bible became 



LEPERS IN INDIA. 6 1 

her constant companion. Day by day her 
face shone with the beauty of hoHness while 
her body was Hterally decaying, but the dis- 
ease which was eatino- out her Hfe left her 
face untouched, and that was " bright and 
comely" to the end. Though a great suf- 
ferer, no murmuring word escaped her lips, 
and she passed away rejoicing in the love 
and faithfulness of that Saviour who would 
present her faultless before the presence of 
his glory with exceeding joy. 

Mr. Vaughan tells of another leper, who 
after his conversion became a veritable mis- 
sionary to his afflicted companions. Unable 
to leave his bed, his couch of suffering was 
both ''his throne and his pulpit," for the 
whole leper community gradually learned 
to look up to him as their leader and teach- 
er. The Christian members of the flock 
gathered about him morning and evening 
for their devotions, and listened with rever- 
ent attention while he opened to them the 
Scriptures. And, thus glorifying God and 
proving a blessing to all about him, he lay 
for three years before death set free the re- 
joicing soul from the suffering body. 



62 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

The leper asylum in Sabathu, a town In 
the lower Himalayas, was for many years in 
the care of the late Dr. John Newton of the 
American Presbyterian mission. To all 
who sought his aid the faithful missionary- 
physician gave not only his ready sympathy, 
but all the help in his power, shrinking from 
no duty, however unpleasant to the flesh, 
and while seeking to relieve physical suffer- 
ings labored earnestly to lead the sufferers 
to the Saviour. But this devoted servant 
of the Lord — "fitted for his post both by 
nature and grace" — has been called to his 
heavenly home. One of the last acts of his 
life was to write to a friend from his dying- 
bed, pleading for the poor sufferers for whom 
he had so long and so lovingly cared. After 
the death of Dr. Newton, Mrs. Newton, 
while she remained in India, carried on the 
work as far as possible in accordance with 
Dr. Newton's views. 

Among those cared for in this asylum 
have been some most interesting cases. 
Mrs. Newton mentions an old woman, 
Nanaki by name, who was admitted into the 
asylum, though not a leper. A son of her 



LEPERS IN INDIA. 63 

husband by another wife was smitten with 
the plague of leprosy ; and when he turned to 
the leper asylum for a home, Nanaki begged 
to come also ; and, as she was old and infirm, 
her request was granted. When she had 
been about a year in the asylum, she asked 
for and received baptism, and from that time 
lived a beautiful and consistent life, kind and 
helpful to those more feeble than herself. 
She was especially devoted to a very old 
man who was both blind and deaf, and to a 
young man so crippled by disease as to be 
unable to use any part of his body except 
his hands and his arms. The last days of 
Nanaki were very happy, her faith in her 
Redeemer undlmmed by doubt or by fear. 
She said to Mrs. Newton a short time be- 
fore her death, 

" I am going now." 

" You are not afraid to go to Jesus ? You 
are happy ?" Mrs. Newton asked, bending 
over Nanaki's cot. 

" No, not afraid — quite happy," she an- 
swered, with a smile. '' Very happy," she 
added a few moments later, the smile still 
on her face. 



64 £ITS ABOUT INDIA. 

The poor cripple missed her sadly, and 
the blind man refused food from any other 
hand, and soon followed Nanaki to the 
grave. 

The Saviour when he was upon the earth 
touched the leper, and beneath the touch 
of that almighty hand the flesh of the loath- 
some leper "came again like unto the flesh 
of a little child " and he was clean. The 
ascended Saviour has the same heart of 
compassion as when he walked the earth. 
We know that he looks down from heaven 
with Infinite pity upon the lepers to-day, 
just as he used to look upon the lepers of 
Palestine. He is glad to have his disciples 
treat these afflicted ones just as he would 
do if he were here again. Surely no work 
can be more Christlike than what we have 
just been witnessing in this leper asylum 
in India. These poor people have immor- 
tal souls and they need a Saviour. The 
fact that they are outcast from men, even 
from their own homes, makes their case all 
the more needy, and renders all the more 
Christlike the beautiful, self- forgetful efforts 
of missionaries in their behalf. 



LEPERS IN INDIA. 65 

Is it not a glorious privilege, then, to 
point these afflicted ones for whom Hfe has 
lost all its earthly joy to that fountain which 
the Saviour by his death has opened for 
sin and uncleanness, and in which they 
may wash and be clean ? 



CHAPTER V. 

INDIAN POTTERS. 

THE art of making vessels of baked clay 
is a very ancient art, and frequent al- 
lusion is made to it in the Bible. The proph- 
et Jeremiah says, '' Then I went down to 
the potter's house, and behold he wrought 
a work on the wheels. And the vessel 
that he made of clay was marred in the 
hand of the potter ; so he made it again 
another vessel, as it seemed good to the 
potter to make it." Passing, on one occa- 
sion, in one of our large cities, through a 
narrow street occupied almost exclusively by 
potters, I saw what helped me to understand 
not only this passage, but much more that 
is said in the Bible about the potter and 
the clay. 

Anxious to learn in what manner the 
vessels in daily use in our households are 
made, we entered one of the houses close 



INDIAN POTTERS, 6/ 

by the roadside. Here the potter had al- 
ready kneaded the clay, and his wheel was 
in rapid motion. The potter's wheel — 
doubtless the same in kind as that men- 
tioned by the prophet Jeremiah — is the in- 
strument in use by the Hindus of the pres- 
ent day. A strong pivot is fixed firmly in 
the ground, and upon this the wheel is made 
to revolve. This wheel is of stone, several 
inches in thickness and two or three feet in 
diameter. The potter, wearing no clothing 
except a cloth about the loins, sat down 
upon the ground beside his wheel, in the 
centre of which had already been placed 
the mass of clay to be moulded. The wheel 
was set in motion by the potter's hand, as- 
sisted by a small stick, and, once in motion, 
it continued to revolve for several minutes. 
While thus revolving, with his naked hands 
the potter fashioned vessel after vessel with 
wonderful rapidity, only pausing occasionally 
to put his wheel into swifter motion. Some 
of the vessels were very light and thin, mak- 
ing it difficult to understand how they re- 
tained their shape in the plastic clay. Now 
the potter made without pattern or mould, 



68 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

guided only by his own unerring taste, bottles 
for water with swelling bowls and long, slen- 
der necks, then a vessel with wide mouth 
and ornamental rim ; now a little vessel to 
be used as a lamp, then a broad plate or 
platter. " As it seemed good to the potter," 
out of the plastic clay he formed vessel 
after vessel in great variety. Some of these 
were "marred" in his hands, but no loss 
was involved, for of the same clay other 
vessels were fashioned. 

In a shed facing the open court where the 
potter sat at his wheel was a heap of blue 
clay which had been collected from the bot- 
toms of tanks in and about the city ; this 
w^as used for the finer kinds of pottery. 
Near this heap of clay, sitting on the ground, 
was a woman withered and old, her head 
resting upon her knees, while from her thin 
lips moans frequently escaped. 

" What is the matter?" we asked, touched 
by her evident distress. 

" My husband is dead," she answered, in 
a piping voice, "and only this boy is left," 
pointing with one bony finger to the young 
man before the wheel, " to earn bread for 



INDIAN POTTERS. 69 

the household. He is but a child, and is 
not cunning with his hands to make all sorts 
of vessels, like his father. What shall we 
do?" and the low wailing sound continued. 

Entering another of the low houses, we 
found the father busy at his wheel and the 
women of the household employed in 
kneading clay for future use. A low cot 
was drawn forward, and upon this we were 
invited to sit while we watched the potter 
at his work. Here, as before, we were 
delighted and surprised at the graceful 
shape of the articles fashioned by the 
hands of the potter. This beauty of form 
is seen in pottery made in all parts of 
India, though fashioned in a manner so 
primitive. 

The vessels, as they were moulded, were 
placed upon a slab of wood or stone or 
upon the smooth ground in the sun to 
harden. The furnace in which they were 
afterward baked was simply a slight ex- 
cavation in the earth, in which the vessels 
were placed, layer after layer, with dry 
sticks, straw, or any other fuel at hand, 
and all burned toofether. 



yO BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

While making a tour in the district our 
tents were on one occasion pitched in the 
vicinity of a village the inhabitants of 
which were chiefly potters. While there 
encamped I one day directed my steps 
toward a group of women engaged in 
kneading clay for the skillful hands of the 
potter. The women smiled a welcome at 
my approach, but did not pause in their 
work. A woman who was holding a child 
in her arms brought a low stool for me, 
and then waited for me to speak. 

As I questioned the women concerning 
their employment, they were pleased to 
give me the desired information about the 
mysteries of their craft, and answered as 
readily when questioned about their home- 
life. It was a story of hard and unremit- 
ting toil. 

"Have you a school in your village?" 
I asked. 

" No, no !" was answered. " How can 
we learn ? We have no leisure for that, 
but must toil from morning until evening 
for our bread." 

" We know only our work," answered 



INDIAN POTTERS. 7 1 

one woman, wearily, as she patiently knead- 
ed the clay. 

Sitting in the midst of the group and 
looking across the road, where, aided by 
rapidly-revolving wheels, two or three 
potters were fashioning vessels diverse in 
form, of the same lump making one vessel 
unto honor and another unto dishonor, the 
words of the prophet Jeremiah came to my 
mind : " Behold as the clay is in the potter's 
hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house 
of Israel." Unpromising soil seemed the 
hearts of these poor ignorant women into 
which to drop seeds of divine truth, but 
such hearts the Master could, we know, 
make fit to receive impressions for good 
even as the plastic clay took shape in the 
hands of the potter. Thus the words of 
the ancient prophet came with new inspira- 
tion to our hearts as we thought of our 
work. Yes, the Master can take even this 
unpromising clay, and from it make vessels 
unto high honor for himself. 

The pottery made in India is very brittle. 
About the house of the potter and in the 
vicinity of wells where the women of a 



72 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

village go out in the morning and evening 
to draw water, carrying upon their heads 
or shoulders the vessels they have brought 
to be filled, and also around ordinary 
dwellings, may always be found fragments 
of broken pottery. In an Eastern house, 
where nothing is suffered to go to waste, 
these " shreds " of pottery are used for 
various household purposes. The Lord 
by his prophet Isaiah describes under the 
figure of a potter's vessel shivered to at- 
oms the punishment that should be visited 
upon his rebellious children : " Therefore 
this iniquity shall be to you as a breach 
ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, 
whose breaking cometh suddenly at an 
instant. And he shall break it as the 
breaking of the potters vessel that is 
broken in pieces ; he shall not spare : so 
that there shall not be found in the burst- 
ing of it a shred to take fire from the hearth, 
or to take water withal out of the pit." 
Thus we are taught something of the 
mighty power of the Lord, before whom 
the strongest of earth are as easily broken 
to pieces as brittle pottery. 



INDIAN POTTERS. 73 

The things which we see about us daily 
as we mingle with the people of this land, 
whose customs and habits, dress, house- 
hold furniture and implements of husbandry, 
have remained unchanged from century to 
century, help us to appreciate and to see 
in many of the allusions of Scripture a 
force and a beauty hitherto but imperfectly 
understood. 



CHAPTER VI. 

SOME ANIMALS IN INDIA. 
THE ELEPHANT. 

I REMEMBER, upon our arrival in India, 
feeling somewhat disappointed that no 
elephants were to be seen. We made the 
long railway-journey from Bombay to one 
of the cities of the Panjab without seeing 
a single elephant. The animal, however, 
is common in India, and is found in a wild 
state in many parts of the country. It is 
one of the most sagacious of creatures, 
and marvelous are the stories told of ele- 
phant-life in India, Burmah and Ceylon. 
An English gentleman who spent eight 
years in Ceylon tells us in an interesting 
volume describine life in that beautiful 
island that he has seen an elephant doing 
the work of three teams in a field. Fas- 
tened to the elephant was a pair of heavy 

74 



SOME ANIMALS IN INDIA. 75 

harrows, and attached to these were a pair 
of hghter harrows, and behind these was a 
roller. The same writer tells us of another 
elephant, a large and very fine animal, em-, 
ployed by her owner in building a dam across 
a stream. The timbers for this dam were 
about fifteen feet lono- and from fourteen to 

o 

eighteen inches in diameter. These the 
elephant carried in her mouth, shifting 
her hold along the log before she raised it 
until she obtained the exact balance, steady- 
ing it with her trunk. In this way she car- 
ried all the logs to the spot and laid them 
across the stream in parallel lines. She 
then arranged two logs, about eighteen 
feet long and two feet in diameter, close 
to the edge, on the bank of the stream, 
and when the work was completed showed 
evident pleasure at the approval of her 
keeper. 

It is said that in ascending or descending 
the precipitous sides of mountains an ele- 
phant always describes a zigzag, and thus 
lessens the abruptness of the inclination. 
When traversing dense jungles, the sensi- 
tive trunk of the elephant feels the way ; 



76 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

and when precipices are feared, the trunk 
lowered on the ground keeps the animal 
advised of danger. 

The Rev. Francois Lacroix, one of the 
famous missionaries of India, and father 
of the late Mrs. Mullens of Calcutta, used 
to tell his children the following story, 
which shortly after the incident took place 
he had heard from a gentleman who wit- 
nessed the occurrence : 

" At Ghyretty, the country-house of the 
governor of the French settlement of 
Chandernagore, there was a little elephant 
exceedingly tame and treated as a pet. 
He was allowed to roam all over the house, 
and was accustomed to come into the 
dining-room after dinner to seek contribu- 
tions from guests. One day, when a large 
party were seated at dessert, the elephant 
came round, and, putting his little trunk 
between the guests, asked from them gifts 
of fruit. One gentleman refused to give 
anything, and, as the animal would not 
leave him, at length, greatly annoyed, he 
took his fork and gave the elephant a 
smart stab in the trunk with the prongs. 



SOME ANIMALS IN INDIA. yj 

The elephant went off and finished his 
rounds, but, shortly after, he went into the 
garden, tore off the bough of a tree which 
was swarming with black ants, returned to 
the room and shook the bough over the 
gentleman's head. In a moment he was 
covered with the ants, which bite severely. 
They filled his hair, crept down his neck, 
crawled up his sleeves. He brushed some 
off, stamped, swore and did his best to get 
rid of the plague, but he could not manage 
it, and was obliged to undress and get into 
a bath to free himself from his tormentors, 
while the remainder of the guests laughed 
at the occurrence and petted the elephant 
more fondly than before." 

Many years ago the town of Tinnevelly, 
in Southern India, was visited by a terrible 
hurricane which caused the loss of many 
lives and threw down more than a hundred 
thousand trees. Among the trees blown 
down in the garden of one of the mission- 
aries of Tinnevelly was a large mango tree 
which yielded most delicious fruit. Anxious, 
if possible, to preserve his favorite tree, the 
owner, with the combined efforts of about 



78 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

fifty men, tried to raise it to an upright posi- 
tion, but in vain. Belonging to one of the 
temples of Tinnevelly was a very large and 
powerful elephant. This animal the mis- 
sionary borrowed, and what the combined 
efforts of fifty men had failed to accomplish 
the elephant succeeded in doing, and for 
many years afterward the tree thus lifted to 
its place flourished and yielded fruit as be- 
fore. 

Mrs. Mault, the wife of a devoted mis- 
sionary who labored for more than a third 
of a century in Nagercoil, a town twelve 
miles from Cape Comorin, tells the follow- 
ing story of her own experience : The de- 
wai'i, or prime minister, of the rajah of 
Travancore sent an elephant with his keep- 
er to Nagercoil to pile timber, and by the 
hand of the keeper sent to Mrs. Mault a 
letter asking her to see the elephant fed 
every day, as he could not depend upon the 
honesty of the keeper. The elephant was 
accordingly brought daily before the raised 
veranda of the house, and the man, stand- 
ing before him, showed the rice allowed for 
his meal. One afternoon Mrs. Mault com- 



SOME ANIMALS IN INDIA. 79 

plained that the quantity was less than usual, 
and charged the keeper with filching it. 
The man, looking up, earnestly protested 
against the accusation, and, not being be- 
lieved, said, " What, madam ! Would I rob 
my own dear child ?" at the same time rais- 
ing his hands, as natives do, to give energy 
to his protestations. At this moment the 
elephant quietly put his trunk round the 
man's waist, untied the bulky cloth which the 
Hindus wear as a kind of girdle, and let out 
upon the ground before Mrs. Mault the rice 
which his paternal keeper had stolen from 
his meal. 

There is in Nagercoil a very large church 
furnishing accommodation for an audience 
of two thousand persons. The stones for this 
spacious edifice were brought from the 
neighboring mountains, and the timbers 
from the adjacent forests. The mission- 
aries engaged in the superintendence of the 
work found difficulty in procuring means for 
the conveyance of the necessary materials. 
While this problem was waiting for solution, 
*T saw," said the Rev. Richard Knill, "a 
huge elephant feeding near a temple with 



80 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

a keeper by his side. I said to the man, 

* Whose elephant is this ?' The reply was, 

* He belongs to the goddess who lives in 
the temple.' — ' What does the goddess do 
with an elephant.' — ' She rides upon him 
twice a year at the processions,' answered 
the keeper. I thought if we could get this 
elephant to draw the material for our chap- 
el the animal would serve a new master and 
be employed in a better work than carrying 
an idol. I mentioned it to Mr. Meade, and 
through the resident the matter was laid 
before the queen. Her Majesty said, 'They 
may have the elephant, but they must feed 
the animal and pay the keeper.' We read- 
ily consented, and had the gratification of 
seeing the monster daily engaged in draw- 
ing stones and timber for the house of the 
Lord." In this beautiful sanctuary, built in 
the year 1818, we saw assembled, in the 
summer of 1878, one of the most interest- 
ing Christian congregations that we have 
ever had the good-fortune to witness 
brought together in any land. 

The trunk of the elephant is furnished at 
the end with a finger-like appendage ; with 



SOME ANIMALS IN INDIA. 8 1 

this the animal can take up very small 
objects. 

One afternoon a wealthy native came to 
call upon us ; he rode to the house on an 
elephant. While he was paying the visit 
the elephant with his keeper roamed about 
the yard, the elephant improving the time 
by gathering some choice morsels from the 
lawn. These, when o^athered, the sagacious 
animal held firmly in the finger at the end 
of his trunk ; then, raising one of his huge 
feet, he brushed the dainty morsel free from 
dust before carrying it to his mouth. " By 
his trunk an elephant can raise a piece of 
artillery or pick up a pin, kill a man or brush 
off a fly, carry food to the mouth or pump 
up water, which he carries to his mouth or 
showers over his body." 

Once, when on a visit to a friend, we were 
taken to spend the day at a deserted city 
where there were some fine old palaces, 
and for part of our journey elephants were 
provided. When we reached our destina- 
tion the elephants were turned into a large 
yard surrounded with a high wall. Mos- 
quitoes were very numerous, and caused 



^2 



BITS ABOUT INDIA. 



the elephants much annoyance, but they 
soon managed to rid themselves of their 
tormentors. One of the elephants filled his 
trunk with fine dust, and with this he pow- 




ROYAL ELEPHANT AND TRAPPINGS. 



dered his body, repeating the process until 
he was covered with a thick coat of dust. 
The other elephants followed his example. 
Elephants are much used in India in the 
processions of native princes, and on all 



SOME ANIMALS IN INDIA. 83 

occasions when it is deemed desirable to 
make a show of wealth or of state. In 
some parts of India, on festive occasions, 
the head, ears and trunk of the elephant 
are elaborately painted. 

The elephant eats hay, vegetables and 
fruit and takes kindly to the most dainty 
dishes. The emperor Akbar kept a great 
number of elephants, and these royal beasts 
had each a daily allowance of two hundred 
pounds of solid food, besides a dessert of 
rice, sugar, milk, and, in their season, three 
hundred sugar-canes. When a rich native 
had a quarrel with one whom he did not 
wish openly to oppose, but upon whom he 
desired to bring disaster, he would some- 
times, under pretence of great friendship, 
make him a present of an elephant. The 
poor man dared not refuse the proffered 
gift, nor dared he dispose of it after it came 
into his possession, and to feed his costly 
present soon impoverished him. 

Elephants are fond of thickly-wooded 
mountain-glens and like to be in the vicinity 
of rivers or pools, as they delight in wal- 
lowing in mud and water. They are 



84 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

capital swimmers, being able to make their 
way across the broadest rivers, floating 
with the head and the back below the 
water and the trunk raised above it. 

THE CAMEL. 

The Arabs call the camel " Job's beast," 
and declare that it is "a monument of 
God's mercy." "Ships of the desert" 
camels are also called, and the name is a 
very appropriate one, for without these 
useful animals the desert would be impassa- 
ble to man. No other creature can endure 
such severe and long-continued hardships, 
such rough usage and such scanty fare. 
Camels have long, ungainly-looking legs ; 
the soles of their large feet are furnished 
with pads or cushions which prevent them 
from sinkimj into the sand. The camel is 
very surefooted, and because of his cush- 
ioned feet moves along very quietly. The 
head of the camel is long, the ears are 
small and the eyes are prominent, so 
that he can distinguish objects at a great 
distance. His neck is long, slender and 
flexible, and his sense of smell very acute. 



86 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

When traveling with a caravan and appar- 
ently exhausted by long marching and 
scanty fare, it is said that he will scent 
water from a great distance, and, breaking 
away, will run with unerring instinct to a 
spring which has escaped the notice of all 
other animals. 

The stomach of the camel is so construct- 
ed that he can carry a supply of water 
sufficient for many days. The stomach is 
like " a chain of water-tanks or a long bag 
divided into compartments," and on ex- 
tended journeys across the desert the camel 
has the power of expanding these compart- 
ments so as to make them capable of hold- 
ing a large amount of water. 

The camel is a very temperate animal. 
The patient creature is quite content if he 
receives once in twenty-four hours a pound 
of dates, beans or barley, while he regards 
as a luxury a few thistles or a mouthful of 
some thorny plant. There are found in 
this country trees covered with thorns soft 
and juicy, and I have seen camels snap at 
these in passing. At evening-time camels 
often pass our door laden with fresh boughs, 



SOME ANIMALS IN INDIA. 



87 



the leaves of which furnish their evening 
meal. 

The camel not only carries a supply of 




A LOADED CAMEL, 



water, but he carries a supply of food as 
well ; upon this, however, he does not draw 
as long as supplies are forthcoming from 



88 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

Other sources. The hump of the camel is 
his food-pouch ; and when he is healthy 
and abundantly fed it is well stored with 
fat. Without this reserve supply he could 
not continue his long and fatiguing marches 
when other supplies are cut off. This gives 
to the lono'-sufferinof animal nourishment 
without food. When the fat is exhausted, 
the skin falls to one side like an empty 
bag. 

The nostrils of a camel are so formed 
that they can be closed at will to exclude 
the drifting sand of the desert. The camel 
is an animal of great strength, a full-grown, 
healthy one carrying with apparent ease 
five or six hundred pounds. These "ships 
of the desert " are often the only means 
of exchanging the products of different 
parts of the country, and, as they carry 
such heavy burdens and are contented 
with scanty fare, they furnish a very cheap 
means of transport. In one part of India 
extensive salt lakes exist, and from the 
waters of these lakes large quantities of 
salt are manufactured. Before railroads 
had penetrated to this part of the country 



SOME ANIMALS IN INDIA. 89 

camels were used to carry away the salt, 
bringing back sugar in exchange. 

Though usually so patient, the camel is 
sometimes obstinate, and even savage. 
When loaded unequally or too heavily, he 
utters a shrill cry. On one occasion, when 
on a journey, quite near the travelers' 
bungalow where we took shelter for the 
nieht were a orreat number of camels, and 
often through the night we heard the 
camels' harsh, shrill cries, their protest 
against the heavy burdens which were 
being laid upon them. Camels are fre- 
quently used to carry tents, and I have 
seen a tent and all its furniture upon the 
back of a camel — a curious load. These 
useful animals are also made to draw ve- 
hicles, but, as they travel slowly — less than 
three miles an hour — are not much used 
by Europeans for this purpose. The heavier 
and tougher animals are employed in carry- 
inor burdens; the lio^hter and more aoriJe 
ones are trained for the saddle. Every 
day we see camels pass our bungalow, 
their long, lank bodies almost concealed 
from view by a gay saddle-cloth, while their 



90 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

riders are gorgeous in scarlet turban, 
orange trousers and blue tunic. 

Often we see string-s of camels. In the 
nostril of each camel is a ring ; through 
this ring a rope is passed, and the opposite 
end of the rope is tied to the camel in front. 
In this way a great number of animals 
are kept together, and they move along 
with almost noiseless tread. 

The baby-camels are as dull and awkward 
as their elders, and seem as subdued, as if 
with their great far-seeing eyes they had 
caught glimpses of the deserts they must 
cross, and had already felt the weight of 
the burdens they must carry. 

This animal, so useful in life, is useful 
also after he is dead. Out of his hair, which 
is of a pale- brown color, the Arab makes 
carpets, tent-cloths, sacks for grain and 
garments for himself. Some of the cloth 
made of camel's hair is soft and fine, but 
it is usually coarse and rough. From the 
hair of the camel brushes are also made 
for the painter. Of his hide belts, sandals, 
ropes, thongs and large water-bottles are 
manufactured. 



SOME ANIMALS IN INDIA. 9 1 

THE TIGER. 

In no Other country are tigers so numer- 
ous, so large and so bloodthirsty as in India 
and the adjacent islands. The average 
heieht of this beast is from three to four 
feet and his average length from six to 
nine feet, though tigers are sometimes found 
fifteen feet in length from head to tip of tail. 
The tiger is a magnificent-looking animal, 
and so strong and fierce that the elephant 
alone is able to withstand him ; but, though 
relentless when he is attacked, he is never- 
theless a cowardly animal and retreats on 
the approach of a foe unless wounded or 
provoked. He is found both in the moun- 
tains and in the plains of India. When the 
hot season approaches he seeks the neigh- 
borhood of streams, where he can be con- 
cealed in thickets of long grass or brush- 
wood. 

An Indian officer, learning on one occa- 
sion that a path to a spring had been mo- 
nopolized by tigers, resolved upon their 
destruction. He therefore caused a sup- 
port to be placed in the branches of a tree 



92 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

that hung just above the path, and, taking 
his station there, with his gun succeeded in 
kilHnor several of the savaee creatures. 

o o 

A death from an encounter with* a tieer 
has been reported from the town of Jamalpore. 
The scarcity of water in the jungle at the 
foot of the hills had driven a number of 
tigers into the plains, and several of these 
animals had been seen prowling about near 
the large railway-shops of the town. A 
woodcutter was carried away in open day- 
light, and several other persons were 
mauled. A fitter in one of the shops sat 
up near his bungalow to watch for a tiger 
which had been several times seen ; for two 
nights he watched in vain, but the third 
nieht he shot at and wounded the animal. 
The tiger, it appeared, charged the man, who 
took refuge in his bungalow, whence he again 
fired, and again he wounded the animal. 
What then transpired is not certainly 
known, but the tiger and the man were 
found lying dead together. It is supposed 
that the man, thinkingf the ti^er dead after 
his second shot, approached it incautiously, 
was attacked and killed. 



94 ^^TS ABOUT INDIA. 

In one of the beautiful valleys of this 
country, two thousand feet above the sea, 
tigers as well as wild elephants abound. 
Over the mountain-pass which leads to this 
valley a road has been made. There are 
a few dwellings along the route, but this low 
mountain-range is for the most part the 
habitat of wild beasts, and tigers some- 
times come down to the streams by the 
roadside to drink. In passing over this 
mountain-range after nightfall the natives 
of the country always carry torches. 

The roar of the ti^er is terrific. It is said 
that on the approach of a tiger, monkeys 
betake themselves for safety to the nearest 
tree. They are then out of the reach of the 
tiger, but not beyond his influence, for the 
monster, as if understanding his power, im- 
mediately begins to roar with all the strength 
of his lungs, and at the awful sound the lit- 
tle creatures are seized with trembling, un- 
til, losing their hold, they tumble from their 
perches upon the ground, and are quickly 
snapped up by the expectant animal. 

A man-eating tiger is the scourge of a 
neighborhood, and through his depredations 



SOAIE ANIMALS IN INDIA. 95 

whole villages are sometimes deserted, the 
inhabitants fleeing in dread for their lives. 
The tiger throws himself upon his victim 
with a bound, springing a distance of fif- 
teen or twenty feet. 

That a creature so savage as to be alike 
a terror to man and beast should be hunted 
is but natural. Tiorer-huntinor in India is a 
favorite and most exciting diversion ; in this 
sport elephants in great numbers are often 
employed. On entering a jungle the pres- 
ence of a tiger is soon made known by the 
conduct of the elephants, who are able to 
scent the enemy from a considerable dis- 
tance, and who give expression to their dis- 
pleasure by a peculiar sound called "trum- 
peting." A tiger, when made aware of the 
presence of a foe, will often lie quite still, 
hidden by the long grass, and then spring 
with a deafening roar upon his pursuers. 
So terrible is this sound that the elephants 
will sometimes retreat, but they speedily re- 
cover their coolness and courage and return 
to the attack. The tiger will sometimes 
spring upon the elephant, and the huge 
creature, shaking himself free from his ene- 



96 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

my, rushes upon him, and not infrequently 
fastens him to the ground with his tusks. 

THE LEOPARD. 

In India there are several species of the 
leopard. One is in color a pale yellow, and 
is covered with clusters of small black spots; 
another species is a yellowish brown in color 
and without spots ; still another is a dull 
black; and a fourth is a light gray, and is 
called the snow-leopard, as it is found only 
in very high altitudes and in the snowy re- 
gion. Cat-like, the leopard springs upon 
its prey with a quick and noiseless bound. 
It will attack and destroy dogs, sheep and 
goats, monkeys, pea-fowls, and occasionally 
cattle and ponies. Children are somedmes 
carried off by leopards ; and when embold- 
ened by hunger, they will even attack men. 

A gentleman was riding over one of the 
mountain-paths in the Himalayas one bright 
moonlight evening, when, as he turned a 
corner, he saw a huge leopard about to 
spring upon him. Raising himself in his 
saddle, he shouted with all his might, and 
the leopard, affrighted, leaped over a bank 



SOME ANIMALS IN INDIA. 



97 



and disappeared. While watching their 
grain at night people are sometimes at- 
tacked by leopards. A lady spending a 




A LEOPARD. 



season In the mountains was on her way to 
the house of a friend early one evenino-, 
accompanied by a favorite dog, when a 
leopard sprang across the path, snapped up 
the dog and was off in a twinkling. 

A species of leopard very small and cat- 
like is called the hunting-leopard, because 
he can be trained for the chase. The leop- 
ard, when trained. Is kept chained to a low 



98 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

cot, and on this cot he Is carried, chained 
and hooded, to the field. When the hunter 
comes within view of a herd of antelopes, 
the leopard is unchained and the hood is re- 
moved. As soon as the leopard catches 
sight of the prey he moves cautiously forward 
until he has approached near enough to 
spring, when he makes five or six bounds 
and leaps upon his unsuspecting victim, 
strangles him and drinks his blood. The 
hunter then approaches, and, securing a 
ladleful of blood, with this entices the leop- 
ard away from his prey, when he is again 
hooded and chained to his cot. 

While visiting a friend residing in a state 
under the rule of a native prince we saw 
a number of these hunting-leopards, each 
chained to a little cot. Releasing one of 
the number, the keeper held high above his 
head a ladle which contained a small piece 
of meat. The leopard poised himself a 
moment, then sprang lightly and noiselessly 
into the air to secure the tempting morsel. 
This he did repeatedly, never missing his 
aim 'and always springing with the same 
graceful, swift and airy motion. 



SOME ANIMALS IN INDIA. 99 

THE JACKAL. 

Of the jackal little can be said to his 
credit. He has no beauty to recommend 
him, and except in his capacity of scaven- 
ger he seems a bane rather than a blessing. 
The jackal has the head of a wolf, a pointed 
nose and a tail like that of a fox. Jackals 
abound in Asia, and, as they move in packs 
and are fond of the darkness, they make 
night hideous with their cry, which is the 
most dismal that can be imagined— a sound 
between a wail and a bark. The first shriek 
is usually a signal for a general chorus. The 
first note is sometimes heard in the distance 
while the answering yell bursts forth from 
several points at once. In the wildest 
storms this dismal sound is sometimes to be 
heard above the uproar caused by the howl- 
ing of the wind. 

The jackal burrows in the ground or finds 
a home in the vicinity of some old ruin, 
and comes forth at night in quest of food. 
He is not dainty in his choice, and, though 
preferring flesh, he eats wild fruits, is fond 
of grapes and relishes the coffee-bean, re- 



TOO BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

morselessly destroying what has cost much 
care and labor. 

Jackals prowl around villages and are 
bold and thievish. They visit poultry-yards 
and commit great depredations among the 
feathered inhabitants. Lizards are greedily 
snapped up by these voracious animals ; the 
timid hare does not escape them, and a pack 
headed by a bold leader will sometimes hunt 
down a deer. When a jackal has secured 
his prey, he hides it in the nearest jungle, 
and then comes forth to see if anything 
more powerful than himself is in sight. 
Finding the coast clear, he returns to the 
booty, bringing with him his companions, 
and carries away the prize to a place of safe- 
ty, to be enjoyed at leisure. If fresh game 
cannot be secured, jackals feast upon carrion- 
flesh, and will not devour anything that has 
not once possessed animal life. They fol- 
low caravans, melas and armies and devour 
the dead, even scratching the earth from 
shallow graves. They will approach so 
near human habitations that the native in- 
fant children — who usually sleep in the open 
air during the hot season — have been car- 



I02 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

ried off by them from the arms of their 
mothers. Sick people who He helpless and 
friendless in the streets or who have been 
left on the banks of the Ganges to die are 
sometimes devoured by these animals. 

It is supposed that in many passages in 
the Bible where foxes are mentioned the 
jackal is the animal to which the allusion 
is made. 



'CHAPTER VII. 

SOME INDIAN PESTS. 
THE CROW. 

WHEN we landed In India we were 
welcomed by die cawing of a crow, 
and dirough the years that have followed 
we have never lost sight of this Impudent 
and audacious bird. Its shrill cry is often 
the last sound we hear at night and the first 
in the morning. 

The neck and a part of the wings of the 
crow are gray ; the rest of the body is a 
bluish black and very glossy. It advances 
on the ground by hopping, and turns its 
head from side to side in a very coquettish 
manner. 

The crow is a very wise bird, very per- 
severlne, and knows what to do in an emer- 
gency. Although so much at home under 
the burning sun of the tropics, it is said to 
be equally so In the intense cold of the 

103 



104 ^^'^^ ABOUT INDIA. 

Arctic regions. It builds its nest in tall trees, 
but seems too much occupied in pilfering 
and in mischief to rear a family. Some 
fine old trees in our compound have given a 
home at night to many generations of crows. 
A beautiful tamarind tree with its wide- 
spreading leafy branches shelters a multi- 
tude of these clamorous birds. All day 
long they are flying hither and thither, but 
at night they return in flocks, looking like 
a swiftly-moving black cloud, screaming and 
chattering as they fly, as if striving which 
first should reach a place of shelter and 
rest. When settled on their perches, they 
caw and scream to one another from tree 
to tree, as if asking the news of the day — 
what adventures have been met with, what 
dangers encountered and averted and what 
success in foraging. With the first flash of 
dawn the crows are awake. " Good-morn- 
ings " are quickly exchanged, the work of 
the day is marked out, and then, with 
much fuss and flutter, they soar away like a 
great army, but at length separate into 
companies ; and the work of the day is 
begun. 



SOME INDIAN PESTS. I05 

Crows are remorseless thieves and make 
great havoc. Visiting* the fields of the farm- 
er, they devour the freshly-sown seeds in 
such quantities that the helpless husband- 
man, when planting his fields, is forced to 
make allowance for their depredations. 
They are bold, and it is not easy to fight 
them. The report of a gun will startle 
them for a moment. They will wheel round 
and round, caw most impudently, and then 
defiantly proceed to carry on their work 
of destruction. 

The crow takes a particular delight in 
hiding anything that is bright and shining. 
A lady was one morning giving directions 
to a servant, when a crow darted through 
the open door and carried away a silver 
fork from the breakfast-table. On another 
occasion a nurse sitting in the garden with 
her charge was startled by seeing a large 
knife covered with blood drop at her feet. 
The mystery was soon solved, for the cook 
came rushinof from the kitchen in search of 
his property. He had been engaged in 
chopping meat, and, turning from his work 
for a moment, a waitino- crow had taken ad- 



I06 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

vantage of the interruption and darted off 
with his knife, dropping it in its flight. 

In India breakfast is usually served at a 
late hour, but before entering upon the 
work of the day a cup of tea and a slice of 
toast are provided. If taken to the veranda 
that the freshness of the early morning may 
be enjoyed, the crows immediately cluster 
around ; and if for a moment the head be 
turned, a watching crow takes advantage 
of the opportunity to secure a breakfast. 
The baker brings the bread to the house in 
a basket carried on his head. If not care- 
fully covered, the crows help themselves to 
a breakfast-roll or a bun. Fruit-venders also 
carry their baskets of fruit upon their heads, 
and as they pass along crows often wheel 
in the air above them, watching for a chance 
to abstract a banana or a guava. On ac- 
count of the excessive heat in India food is 
not prepared in the principal dwelling, but in 
a little house apart, and as the cook passes 
to and fro, he has interested spectators in 
the crows, who follow his flittings, hoping 
by hook or crook to secure a dinner. 

A gentleman once saw a crow hopping 




GETTING A BREAKFAST. 



I08 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

back and forth before a chained dog to 
which a bone had been thrown. By many 
Kttle devices the crow tried to attract the 
attention of the dog, but for wise reasons 
the dog refused to be diverted. The crow 
at length flew away, but soon returned with 
a companion. The first crow took his 
station on the ground in front of the dog, 
as before, hopping about and cawing in a 
very famiHar, sociable way. The second 
crow commenced wheeling In the air in an 
apparently aimless way, but suddenly 
swooped down and with his strong beak 
struck the unsuspecting dog with great torce 
upon the spine. The dog, starting with 
surprise and pain, lifted his paws and his 
jaws for a moment from his precious bone. 
That moment was the golden opportunity 
for which Mistress Crow had evidently been 
watching, and, seizing the bone, she flew 
away with the prize, followed by her com- 
panion, cawing in victory, while the poor 
dog was left with a smarting back and 
breakfastless. 

We saw one evening a little native boy 
wearily climbing a tree in the yard. 



SOME INDIAN PESTS. IO9 

" What are you going to do ?" was asked 
of the boy. 

" Get my cap," he answered, " which a 
crow has just snatched from my head and 
carried to the top of this tree. Don't you 
see it away up there among the branches?" 

We often see crows standing on the backs 
of cows, buffaloes or goats. These animals 
suffer much annoyance from the presence 
of ticks and other insects. They are not 
able to rid themselves of these pests, and 
the crows — not from any benevolent mo- 
tives, I am afraid — with their sharp eyes 
find these troublesome visitors and transfer 
them from the backs of their friends to their 
own stomachs. So there is at least one 
litde bit of good that crows do, although 
even this Is done selfishly ; they give com- 
fort to the poor suffering beasts by reliev- 
ing them of the most troublesome annoy- 
ances. Perhaps some people in the United 
States would not object if crows could be 
taught to pick off the mosquitoes in the 
summer days that are so persistent in their 
malicious work. 



no BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

THE WHITE ANT. 

Ants seem a "feeble folk," yet the white 
ant is one of the greatest annoyances of 
life in India. It not only destroys what is 
placed upon the ground, but devours the 
very houses in which we live. In the con- 
struction of an Indian house but little wood 
is used because of this small but terrible 
enemy. The floors are made of cement, 
but even through this the soft white ant 
makes its way. The walls of the houses in 
some parts of India are built chiefly of clay 
and are made very thick to exclude the heat. 
Such houses have an outer facincr of sun- 
dried bricks. Though so rudely built, these 
houses, when plastered and whitewashed, 
are quite neat in appearance. The roofs 
of many of them are covered with a very 
thick thatch. To this thatch the white ant 
will force its way through the clay walls 
and will eat great holes, filling the spaces 
with honeycombed masses of clay. This 
is quickly dissolved by the rain, and not in- 
frequently falls in streams of mud into the 
rooms below. Walls of very old houses be- 



SOME INDIAN PESTS. 1 1 1 

come so perforated by these little Insects 
as to be unsafe. The great beams of the 
house which bind it together and upon 
which the roof rests are sometimes com- 
pletely riddled by the white ants. The out- 
side of such beams is usually painted ; this 
painted surface the wise little creatures do 
not disturb, so that a beam may appear fair 
upon the outside, while within it is a net- 
work of clay and the tougher fibres of the 
wood. For this reason it is necessary oc- 
casionally to examine the beams of a house 
to know that they are sound and safe. 

Not long ago the timbers supporting a 
large room in the house of a friend gave 
way. The lady was ill at the time, and was 
greatly alarmed when she heard the terrible 
crash which shook all the building. She 
thought of her husband and her dear little 
children, and feared that they had perished, 
for the room into which the timbers had 
fallen was one in constant use ; but at the 
time it was quite empty, so no one was 
injured, though most of the furniture was 
broken and ruined. The white ants had 
destroyed the beams, eating out the heart 



112 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

of them and leaving only the shell, thus 
weakening- them, until the weight resting 
upon them was more than they could bear. 

If a box containing clothing, books, 
stores, or anything softer than stone or 
metal, be left upon the floor of the dwelling, 
in one night the contents will sometimes be 
ruined. Bookcases are not placed quite 
aeainst the wall of a room, but at a little 
distance from it ; and so of every other 
article of furniture. 

The white ant will destroy the bark of 
the largest tree if left undisturbed. Plants 
in the garden do not escape. We see a 
promising rose tree drooping, and an ex- 
amination reveals the white ants at the 
root. When these remorseless insects 
mark an object for destruction, they spread 
over it a thin covering of clay, beneath 
which is a network of arches in which they 
pass and repass each other. As fast as 
the contents of a bookcase or a chest are 
destroyed these wonderful creatures fill 
the interstices with clay. Opening a case 
in the library one day, I took from one of 
the shelves a volume the covers of which 



SOME INDIAN PESTS. II3 

were in perfect condition, but the leaves 
between had entirely disappeared, and the 
space had been filled with clay. 

A lady in India received from her friends 
at home a box of valuable clothing ; after ex- 
amining and admiring the beautiful things 
she replaced them. Opening the box some 
time after to take from it a needed article, 
she was surprised to find the top of it 
covered with clay. Upon examination, the 
lady found the entire box filled with the 
network of clay, which the white ants had 
left in exchange for the goodly garments, 
which they had altogether destroyed. 

Havinof occasion one morninof to call at 
a printing-establishment in the city, we 
found the managers standino- disconsolate- 
ly over some boxes which had just been 
opened, and from which they had expected 
to take out a supply of paper for work 
waiting to be done ; but the white ants had 
been there before them, and had left only 
clay and tatters. 

When an article is placed some distance 
from the wall, these household pests, in 
order to reach it, will sometimes build out 

8 



114 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

little pipes of clay, thus preparing a covered- 
way to the article they intend to destroy. 
In this manner pictures are often ruined. 
The use of the clay and the building of 
these bridges, besides other shrewd and 
cunning things these ants do, illustrate 
their wonderful instinct. 

As regards housekeeping in India, it is 
emphatically true that ''eternal vigilance is 
the price of" safety. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

A MELA, OR RELIGIOUS FAIR, IN INDIA. 

ALLAHABAD, the city that was for 
many years our home, stands at the 
junction of two great rivers, the Ganges 
and the Jumna. The name signifies " city 
of God," and was bestowed upon it by 
Akbar, one of the great Mogul emperors. 
Here he buih a fine fort ; over this fort 
the British flag now floats, and British sol- 
diers keep watch and ward where once the 
troops of the proud Mohammedan em- 
peror were the guardians, and English 
matrons and maidens dwell beneath the 
roofs that once sheltered the dark-eyed 
beauties of Akbar's royal household. Dur- 
ing the terrible mutiny of 1857 many of the 
European residents of Allahabad took ref- 
uge in the fort, and there found shelter 
until peace was restored. 

115 



Il6 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

To the Hindu, Allahabad is known as 
Prayag, and, being situated at the junction 
of two sacred rivers, is regarded as one 
of the sacred cities of India. At the con- 
fluence of these two rivers is a wide sandy 
plain, and here, during the cold season of 
every year, is held a great religious fair. 
Even before the time appointed for this 
important festival all the roads leading to 
Allahabad are more or less crowded with 
pilgrims. They come from all parts of this 
vast empire — the old and the young, the 
rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, 
men, women and children. 

Formerly the great majority of pilgrims 
arrived on foot, but now that a network 
of railroads is spread over India, touching 
many of the important cities, a large pro- 
portion of the strangers take advantage 
of the cheap and easy means of transport 
thus afforded. 

SCENES AT THE FAIR. 

On one occasion we drove down to the 
grounds on one of the great days of the 
fair. The roads were full of people, many 



A RELIGIOUS FAIR. II7 

on foot, some riding small ponies, others — 
chiefly women and children — in large carts 
drawn by the beautiful white oxen of the 
country. These carts were usually covered 
with a gay cloth, and through openings 
the inmates peeped curiously out. Many 
wealthy and ease-loving Hindu gentlemen 
were in palanquins borne on the shoulders 
of men. Now a handsome Engrlish car- 
riage swept by with outriders in gorgeous 
livery, and with all the pomp and parade so 
pleasant to the people of the Orient. Here 
was an old woman, bent and withered, lean- 
ing on her staff. Such a pilgrim a mission- 
ary once met on her way to the Ganges ; 
from the end of a stick resting upon one 
of her shoulders was suspended a small 
red baof. 

" What are you carrying, my friend ?" 
asked the missionary. 

" My husband, sir," was the somewhat 
startling answer. 

The poor woman's husband had died so 
far from the sacred stream that the body 
could not be committed to its keeping. It 
had, therefore, been consumed by fire and 



1 1 8 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

the ashes sacredly preserved, to be cast 
into the river on some future occasion. 

None of the pilgrims came to the fair 
empty-handed, for the numerous priests in 
attendance do not serve for naught. 

Among the pilgrims was a man slowly 
and painfully measuring his length along 
the ground. He bowed himself to the 
earth, then rose again, placed his feet 
where his forehead had touched the ground, 
and then once more prostrated himself. This 
he had perhaps continued for weeks — 
possibly for months — and he expected to 
acquire great merit because of his self- 
inflicted torture. 

We reached, at length, a point beyond 
which carriages could not advance. It was 
difficult to make our way even with an 
escort. We climbed to an eminence and 
looked down upon the plain between the 
two great rivers. What crowds of people! 
and what prodigality of color ! Had there 
been a shower of rainbows ? How per- 
fectly in keeping with the dazzling sunlight, 
the intense blue of the sky and the soft 
air seemed these brilliant hues ! Not a 



120 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

cloud flitted across the sky, but the atmo- 
sphere was charged with a fine white dust. 
The ubiquitous crow was there, for these 
festivals furnish rare opportunities for the 
exercise of the thieving propensities for 
which this bird is distinguished. Now a 
bevy of brilliant-plumaged paraquets went 
scudding by with noisy demonstration ; 
then a vulture rose noiselessly into the air. 
On the right was Akbar's fort, the sun 
lighting up its gray walls and turrets. 

The view from the fort is very beautiful. 
On one side is the Ganges ; on the other 
side, rushing to meet this stream, is the 
clearer Jumna. Native villages are scat- 
tered here and there, and, half hidden by 
leafy trees, their poverty is not apparent. 
Here, tall columns rise; there, the swelling 
domes of some ancient tombs. On one side 
is the graceful spire of a Christian church; 
on the other are the minarets of a mosque 
or the glittering pinnacles of a heathen 
temple. 

Through the kindness of a friend we 
were provided with an elephant on which 
to make a tour of the grounds. Obedient to 



A RELIGIOUS FAIR. 121 

the command of his keeper, who sat astride 
his huge neck, the great creature kneeled, 
and remained almost motionless while a 
ladder was placed against his sides and we 
mounted to our place. Slowly the elephant 
rose when the order w^as given, and moved 
majestically forward. A policeman made a 
passage for us through the crowd, and our 
wise and patient elephant seemed almost 
human in his care not to injure those in 
the throng who pressed against him. 

The fair-ground was a world in Itself. A 
new city of straw huts had sprung up as if 
by magic ; and though this is a religious gath- 
ering, yet it is also a place where the na- 
tive dealer is ready to drive a hard bargain. 
There were shops for the sale of fruit, of 
grain and of vegetables. Cloth-merchants 
were there, dealers In brass and copper 
utensils, ivory carvings, native jewelry, such 
ornaments as the women in Eastern lands 
prize — bracelets for the arms, rings for 
the ears, the nose, and even the toes, 
bands for the ankles, ornaments for the 
head and circlets for the neck. Idols 
were temptingly displayed, great ones and 



122 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

small, of stone, of brass, of marble, and even 
of clay, fantastically painted. There were 
fragrant flowers for offerings, and the 
pigments of which the Hindus in their 
worship make much use, as also other things 
which I cannot enumerate. 

Many of the strangers live on the grounds 
during their sojourn at the fair. Some have 
the protection of a straw hut, but many are 
without shelter. We saw one woman com- 
posedly kneading dough in a wooden bowl ; 
this dough she made into thin cakes, which 
she baked on a fire of coals and then dis- 
tributed to her household. 

One part of the grounds was devoted to 
the fakirs, or religious mendicants, twenty 
thousand of whom were said to be present. 
With lone matted hair and with bodies 
nearly destitute of clothing and covered 
with ashes, they seemed to possess little 
claim to sanctity. Among this class were 
men torturing themselves in various vvays. 
Several were standing on pointed nails driv- 
en through boards ; others were sitting in a 
circle of fire ; others, standing on one foot, 
and others, again, with an arm uplifted, mo- 



A RELIGIOUS FAIR. 1 23 

tionless and rigid from having been kept 
long in one position. These men were all 
supposed to be above the influence of bodily 
pain, and won from the admiring spectators 
not only praise, but gifts, to which they 
were by no means indifferent. 

Beggars also abounded ; not only were 
the very poor there, but the maimed, the 
halt, the blind and the loathsome leper. 
The enterprising, money-loving Parsee — 
the Jew of the land — was there with a the- 
atre, a temporary structure remarkable 
chiefly for its size. The venture had not 
proved a success, we were told ; the play 
did not *' draw." And what wonder? for 
the assembled multitudes, chiefly strangers, 
did not lack for amusement : the whole out- 
side world was to them a theatre. 

Not far from this playhouse were the 
white tents of the missionaries of two or 
three denominations, and there, by both the 
foreign missionary and the native helpers, 
Christ was preached. Tracts, religious 
books and the Holy Scriptures in the lan- 
guages of the people were distributed or 
sold, and many who did not care to listen to 



124 B^TS ABOUT INDIA. 

the words of the preachers took home 
words of truth to be read and pondered 
amid less exciting scenes. By these means 
much seed was sown, and some, we doubt 
not, fell into good ground. 

Pennants were streaming from all parts 
of the grounds. Each had its own device 
and was the standard of a priest, around 
which his followers rallied. Bands of music 
were playing, and everything wore a festive 
look. A large and gay umbrella borne by 
obsequious attendants marked the passage 
through the throng of some person of dis- 
tinction. Elephants were going and re- 
turning, some bearing mere spectators like 
ourselves; on others, in haughty state, sat 
nearly nude fakirs. 

As we approached the water's edge we 
saw a man lying dead ; a little group had 
gathered about the prostrate form, but the 
crowd, unheeding, rushed on. Near the 
point where the pilgrims went down to 
bathe was a great company of barbers ; 
four hundred men of this craft were said to 
be in attendance. Their presence on these 
occasions is considered essential, for the 



A RELIGIOUS FAIR. I 25 

devout HInda Is shaved before immersing 
his body in die sacred waters. This is an 
important part of the ceremony. The 
heads of the males are shaved, and I have 
been told, also, the heads of widows. 
From the head of a wife it is considered 
sufficient to sever a lock or two. To re- 
ceive the full benefit of this pious act the 
hair thus shorn from the body should be cast 
into the sacred waters, but there has been 
a complaint that, instead, it is sold to traders 
who deal in human hair, and who export it 
to Calcutta and Bombay, and thence to 
Europe. When the pilgrim has bathed, he 
pays a visit to the chief places of sanctity, 
and as an indispensable part of the cere- 
mony makes offerings to the priests. 

Turning back from the water's edge, we 
encountered a procession of fakirs. There 
is said to be much rivalry among those 
holy men, and in such a procession due re- 
gard is paid to precedence. Gay ly- capari- 
soned elephants, camels and horses led the 
procession, while pennons floated out, 
grotesque in design and gorgeous in col- 
or. The great cavalcade filed past amid 



126 • BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

the clang of native instruments of music. 
The noise of the surging crowd was Hke 
the sound of the sea. On rushed the 
throng, leaping, dancing, shouting. 

When such multitudes come together 
from great distances to take part in such 
religious festivals, and when these festivals 
are held in all parts of India, we can form 
some faint idea of the hold which the relig- 
ions of the country have upon the popular 
mind. But India, as well as all other hea- 
then lands, shall yet own allegiance to the 
one true God ; for the mouth of the Lord 
hath spoken it. 



CHAPTER IX. 

A GLIMPSE OF TENT-LIFE IN INDIA. 

AS the inhabitants of those lands where 
Jr\. for nearly half the year winter holds 
rigorous sway note with peculiar pleasure 
the signs of returning spring, so do we 
dwellers in this fervid clime welcome the 
coming of the delightful cold season. Kept 
prisoners for long months by the excessive 
heat, joyfully do we throw open our doors 
to the pleasant breezes, and delicious is the 
sense of freedom when we can venture 
abroad even at noonday. 

Neither during the summer months, nor 
yet during the rainy season, can the mis- 
sionary leave his home to preach to the 
people in the distant villages, as there are 
no hospitable abodes where he may be sure 
of a welcome. When he makes a tour in 
the district, he must carry his house with 

127 



128 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

him ; and, as his portable dweUing is but a 
canvas tent, it affords httle protection 
against the fierce heat of an Indian summer 
or the heavy rains of the monsoon season. 
The missionary, therefore, seeks, as far as 
is consistent with other duties, to utihze the 
cold season in visitino- villao-es in the dis- 

o o 

trict in order to carry the gospel to those 
who will not come to him. 

First in order comes the work of prepara- 
tion. Tents are brought out, rents are 
repaired, missing ropes and pegs are sup- 
plied, and the whole is made into suitable 
packages. Folding beds, tables and chairs 
are examined as to their ability to maintain 
an upright position when required to do so ; 
boxes are stored with necessary provisions, 
and everything is made ready for house- 
keeping in a very primitive style. Nor are 
books omitted. When all things have been 
prepared, carts are brought — great, un- 
gainly vehicles with ponderous wooden 
wheels and drawn by bullocks not unlike 
the kine of the Egyptian monarch's dream, 
very ''ill-favored and lean-fleshed." 

Upon two such primitive carts our pos- 



A GLIMPSE OF TENT-LIFE. 1 29 

sessions were piled one lovely day in the 
month of December — a miscellaneous col- 
lection, tents, furniture, boxes, bundles and 
baskets. The carts, with the servants, were 
despatched in the morning. We followed 
several hours later in a closed conveyance 
of a fashion peculiar to India and drawn by 
one horse. We crossed in our journey the 
fine railway-bridge which spans the river 
Jumna, a massive structure measuring three 
thousand two hundred and seventy-eight feet 
between abutments — one of the triumphs 
of enmneerinor skill in India. The river 
crossed, we drove nine miles over a good 
road through a beautiful country, through 
meadows green as in summer-time at home. 
There were fields of wheat, and also of 
pulse, of which there are several varieties. 
We saw beds of the poppy, and also of 
the castor-oil plant, which here grow in 
perfection. 

So slowly had the carts crept along that 
we arrived at our destination before our 
encampment was in readiness. A fine 
mango-grove had been selected as our 
camping-ground, and every one was busy. 



130 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

A man whose special vocation it was 
swept the ground ; this he did with a hand- 
ful of bamboo splints tied together. The 
water-carrier sallied forth with his water- 
bottle slung over his shoulder to obtain a 
supply of water. The cook selected a con- 
venient place for his base of operations, 
and with a small instrument resembling a 
trowel becran loosenino- the earth ; over this 
loosened earth the water-carrier, upon his 
return, poured water from the mouth of the 
leather *' bottle." The moist earth was then 
moulded into shape, and soon a number of 
little semicircular walls were built up, and 
a range for the cook was shortly in readiness. 
The tents were speedily pitched, the fur- 
niture was arranged and books and maps 
were in their places. 

The road from a large native town passed 
near the grove in which we were encamped, 
and we heard constantly the hum of human 
voices. Some of the passers-by stopped 
to ask what sahib, or European, had come 
among them. Women bearing heavy loads 
of wood upon their heads came to the en- 
campment. The cook bargained for a sup- 



132 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

ply of fuel, and while he counted out the 
price the tired woman sat down on the 
ground for a moment's rest. 

Carts laden with women and children 
went creaking by ; they had been to the 
Ganges, which flowed by the town, to bathe, 
and as they returned to their homes they 
were chanting a hymn in honor of their 
gods. Other carts went by laden with 
grain or cotton on their way to the railway- 
station ; then a train of bullocks followed 
with panniers heavily laden. Many of 
these animals wore around the neck a 
string of little bells, which tinkled not un- 
musically. Women with water-jars poised 
upon their heads trooped along, the orna- 
ments encircling their ankles tinkling as 
they moved. On a rude bier a dead man 
was carried to the Ganges, followed by a 
little company of mourners. 

Late in the afternoon the missionary and 
his helpers went to the large town not far 
from the encampment to carry the glad 
tidings to the people, and soon a company 
gathered about the speakers. Some lis- 
tened quietly, others were disposed to 



A GLIMPSE OF TENT- LIFE. 1 33 

cavil ; some treated lightly the sacred mes- 
sage, and a few appeared much interested. 
Portions of Scripture and books and tracts 
in the languages of the people were offered 
for sale, the price asked not representing 
the value of the book, but enough to give 
it some worth in the eyes of the purchaser. 
The people are fond of music, and are 
pleased when singing is introduced. 

Night after night in some village at a 
convenient distance from the encampment 
such meetings were held. At these even- 
ing gatherings the missionary frequendy 
makes use of a sciopticon or a superior 
magic-lantern to attract the people. Sitting 
about in the darkness, the work of the day 
over, they are pleased to see flash through 
the gloom upon a white wall or a screen a 
picture Oriental in scene and brilliant in 
color — the prodigal son, the ten virgins, 
the raising of the widow's son, the giving 
of the law or the lifting up of the serpent 
in the wilderness — and they listen not only 
patiendy, but with marked interest, to the 
story it represents. Not infrequently, under 
cover of the darkness, orreat numbers of 



134 ^^TS ABOUT INDIA. 

women join the audience, while to the chil- 
dren and the young people these object- 
lessons are always a peculiar attraction. 
Carrying- the picture in memory, they nat- 
urally link with it the words of the 
preacher. 

Two large villages not far removed from 
our encampment enjoy the distinction of 
being known as " bazaar-towns." In each 
of these villages a market is held two 
days in the week. These market-days are 
important occasions to the people. Those 
living in the country and in the smaller 
villages bring at these times such articles 
as they have for sale — grain of various 
kinds, sugar-cane, cotton, thread spun by 
the women of the households, coarse cloth, 
spices, tobacco. The potter comes with 
his wares, and the vessels moulded by 
his skillful hand are of various designs, 
and many of them are exceedingly graceful 
in shape. The ironmonger also is there, 
and the dealer in bright brass. 

The open square where the market Is 
held is indeed a lively spot during the 
hours of traffic. Those who bring mer- 



A GLIMPSE OF TENT- LIFE. 1 35 

chandise for sale are usually purchasers 
as well. Long before you reach the spot 
you hear the buzz of the multitude, and 
upon a nearer approach the sound becomes 
almost deafenine. 

These occasions when the people from 
the country and the surrounding villages 
are gathered together furnish excellent 
opportunities for preaching the gospel. 
Even in the midst of so much confusion 
and shrewd bargaining there are always 
many at leisure — mere lookers-on, or those 
who, having transacted the business for 
which they have come, are at liberty to 
seek a new interest. At such times books 
find ready purchasers. One man selects 
for himself a book, attracted by its tide; 
another is pleased with a book or a tract 
handsomely illustrated, and remembers a 
bright-eyed boy at home who would prize 
such a volume ; and thus into many homes 
are carried words of truth. 

What glorious nights we had, the moon 
shining in splendor ! and when her face 
was hidden, the heavens were radiant with 
starry glory. But the nights were far from 



136 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

silent. Jackals were abroad, making the 
darkness hideous with their cries ; owls 
hooted in the branches above us, and other 
feathery denizens of the gloom made riot, 
while dogs without masters — homeless curs, 
lank and ill-favored — prowled about, intent 
on plunder. With the dawn these unwel- 
come visitants vanished, save the dogs, and 
they were always present. 

Early in the morning of each day the 
missionary and his helpers went forth to 
sow the good seed — perhaps to a distant 
village ; and wherever they could find an 
audience, whether under the shade of a 
tree by the roadside or in the village itself, 
they were ready to speak. In this way the 
morning hours were spent until the increas- 
ing heat warned them that it was time to 
seek the shelter of their tents. Breakfast 
and worship followed. The hours during 
the heat of the day were devoted to study, 
to reading, writing, translating or the enter- 
tainment of visitors, who came, some from 
curiosity to see how Europeans live, some 
to purchase books or to inquire more close- 
ly concerning the things which they had 



A GLIMPSE OF TENT-LIFE. 1 37 

heard. Then, as the day wore to its close, 
the missionary and his helpers again went 
forth to perform their labors of love ; and 
thus day after day passed. 

When the wife of a missionary accom- 
panies her husband, she is sometimes able 
to take with her the wife of a native helper, 
and in her company visits the homes of the 
villagers and tries to tell the women who 
gather about her of the Lord who loves 
them and who died to save them. Unac- 
customed as are the women in the country 
to the sight of Europeans, it is less difficult 
to gain access to them if accompanied by 
one of their own people. 

Occasionally, in the early morning, I 
rode out beyond the town to the river's 
bank, where were two or three temples. 
About one of these I usually found a group 
of well-dressed women and a troop of 
bright-eyed little maidens, daughters come 
with their mothers to worship. Each one 
brought an offering — a handful of rice, a 
little flour, a few copper coins or a wreath 
of fragrant white blossoms. If I stopped 
to talk with the women, they listened atten- 



138 BITS ABOUT INDIA, 

tively ; but the priest showed his displeasure 
by frowning darkly. 

A conspicuous object in the middle of 
one of the roads not far from our encamp- 
ment was a great well surrounded by a 
wide platform of masonry ; women were 
constantly going to or returning from this 
well. With a water-jar poised upon one 
shoulder or resting upon her head, her 
chadar — a sheet-like covering — wrapped 
gracefully about her head, her anklets and 
the ornaments upon her unshod feet tink- 
ling as she walked along, — such a woman 
made a truly Oriental picture, a bit of 
Bible history illustrated. On the platform 
of this well, tired travelers sat to rest. 

Passing a house one day, I heard from 
within the sound of weeping, and stopped 
to inquire the cause. 

" It is nothing," was answered. " A bride 
Is going to the home of her husband." 

On such occasions the bride loudly 
laments and clings to the friends she is 
about to leave, while they tenderly console 
her. The bride weeps — not only because 
her grief is so great, but because it is the 



140 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

custom to do so ; and if she failed to make 
a show of grief, she would be regarded as 
lacking in natural affection. 

One morning in my ride I came upon a 
very large and fine tank, and close beside 
it was a temple ornamented with handsome 
stone carvings. From the swelling dome 
of the temple a young tree was growing. 
Some seed wafted by the wind or carried 
by a bird in the air had found lodgment 
there, and the roots of the young tree, feel- 
ing their way through the crevices, were 
gradually accomplishing the ruin of the 
shrine. I dismounted and entered the tem- 
ple to examine the interior, and no objection 
was made when I crossed the threshold into 
the sacred place where the hideous idol 
was enshrined. The loungers about said 
to me in explanation, 

" Few worship here now, and the temple 
is falling into decay. It was built," they 
added, " by a wealthy banker, who had also 
made the great tank beside it." 

This man had long since died, and no one 
cared to keep in repair what had cost so 
much treasure, as, since both temple and 



A GLIMPSE OF TENT- LIFE. I4I 

tank bore the name of the dead banker, to 
him would accrue all the merit. 

A missionary usually spends several days 
in one encampment. During one morning 
two or three villages may be visited, and 
the word there be preached. Other villages 
are visited in the afternoon and evening, 
and so from day to day the work goes on 
until the missionary and his helpers have 
preached once, and perhaps two or three 
times, in all the villages that can be reached 
from the encampment. In this way much 
seed is sown, and some of it bears fruit. 

Durinof our first cold season in India it 
was our privilege to accompany two of our 
missionaries on an itineration. For some 
days our tents were pitched in a grove near 
several villages, none of which had before 
been visited by a Christian missionary. 
One of the villagers, at that time knowing 
nothing of Jesus, has been for several years 
a most useful preacher, finding his highest 
happiness in making known to his country- 
men the Saviour he has found. 

Sitting in our tent at night, alone, but not 
lonely, there sometimes broke upon my ears 



142 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

the sweet sound of Christlaa hymns sung 
by the helpers — precious words of truth set 
to native airs. It was a deHghtful sound, 
and I thought how different would be the 
condition of India, socially, physically and 
morally, as well as spiritually, were her hea- 
then songs exchanged for the praises of 
Immanuel. 



CHAPTER X. 

EASTERN CUSTOMS. 

SINCE we have lived among a people 
whose manners and customs resemble 
so nearly the manners and customs of the 
East when the Bible was written, the Bible 
has seemed to us a new book, and its para- 
bles and illustrations have had a deeper and 
clearer signification. 

In the part of India in which we live the 
grain ripens during the cold season and is 
cut in March — not with machines cunningly 
made and in eager haste, as in some coun- 
tries, but with sickles. The reapers are 
often women, and the work is performed in 
a most leisurely manner; for in the season 
of harvest there is little fear of storms, one 
bright day following another with scarce a 
cloud to dim the brightness of the glowing 
sun. Near our house a field of grain be- 

143 



144 ^^TS ABOUT INDIA. 

longing to some villager has ripened. We 
have watched the reapers at their work, and 
now the store of gathered grain is laid upon 
the threshine-floor and is bein^r trodden out 
by oxen, the patient animals driven in a circle 
over this floor. The Israelites were com- 
manded not to muzzle the ox while treading 
out the corn, but in India the muzzle is 
often used. As the work of threshing the 
grain goes on the entire mass is occasionally 
turned ; when the grain has been sufficiently 
trodden, it is tossed against the wind. By 
this process the straw and the chaff are blown 
away, while the grain falls to the ground. 
I have often seen the husbandman standing 
with a shallow basket filled with grain wait- 
ing patiently for a favoring breeze. 

Water for household purposes is brought 
in a leathern " botde." Just such " botdes " 
are now in use in India as are mentioned in 
the Bible ; they are made of the skins of 
animals, the skin of the goat being most 
frequently used. The water is poured into 
the skin at the aperture in the neck. The 
" bottle " is then secu rely tied and slungacross 
the back of the water-carrier. In a country 




EASTERN WATER MKRCHAN'r, 



10 



146 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

where the heat is so intense as in India the 
services of no class of men are in greater 
demand than are those of the water-bearer, 
who is held in high regard by the people, 
his name, (bihishti) signifying " of or belong- 
ing to Paradise." In some cities the water- 
carrier, as he passes along the street bend- 
ing beneath his load, strikes a small brass 
cup, which he carries poised upon one of 
his fingers, with a bit of metal, which is 
fastened to another finger, thus producing 
a tinkling sound by which he attracts atten- 
tion to his precious store. 

Sometimes wealthy Hindus, in order to 
lay up for themselves a large store of merit, 
plant a grove, build a rest-house for way- 
farers or dig a well on a public road. A trav- 
eler in India usually carries with him a small 
brass vessel and a long, strong cord, with 
which he can draw water from a public well 
to quench his thirst. Without such provis- 
ion he is in just the condition in which the 
woman of Samaria found the Saviour when 
she said to him, " Thou hast nothing to draw 
with, and the well is deep." 

Frequently a wealthy and devout Hindu 



EASTERN CUSTOMS. 1 47 

will employ a Brahman or Brahmans to 
give water to thirsty travelers as they 
journey. We often see such men on 
much-frequented roads, protected from the 
sun by a thatched hut and surrounded by 
jars filled with water. For such a service 
Brahmans are employed, because of the 
bondage of caste by which the natives of 
India are enthralled. As a Brahman is 
a man of the highest caste, all can take 
water from his hands, but on no account 
would His Lordship come in contact with a 
person of inferior caste. Should such a man 
ask water from him, the Brahman would pour 
it from his own vessel into the cup of the 
traveler or into the man's joined hands as 
he knelt before him, at the same time hold- 
ing himself at a distance lest even his gar- 
ments should be defiled. 

When traveling in the Himalayas, we 
have seen the skins of animals used as 
receptacles for grain. The skins employed 
for this purpose are those of large animals, 
as the buffalo, while the skins of goats or 
of kids are used for flour. 

We often see two women grinding at a 



148 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

mill. Two circular stones are placed upon 
the ground, one above another. In the 
upper one there is a handle. The women 
sit opposite each other, with one hand keep- 
ing the upper stone in motion, and with 
the other putting the grain into a small 
aperture in the centre of the stone. This 
work is very laborious, and is regarded as 
menial ; it is, therefore, performed by serv- 
ants, except in the households of the poor. 
It is usually the first work of the day, and 
therefore the earliest sound we hear in the 
morning is often the sound of the grinding. 

In the first chapter of the book of the 
prophet Isaiah is an enumeration of orna- 
ments corresponding very nearly with the 
ornaments in use by the women of India at 
the present time. Very fond are Indian 
ladies of the tinkling ornaments about their 
feet, the chains, the bracelets, the earrings, 
the rings and the nose-jewels, the glasses 
and the veils. I have seen the young 
daughters in wealthy families almost covered 
with jewels, and very proud were the little 
maidens of their ornaments. 

In Genesis we read that as the patriarch 




WOMEN AT THE MILL. 



150 BITS ABOUT INDIA, 

Abraham sat in his tent door in the heat 
of the day he lifted his eyes and saw two 
men standing by his side. He knew not 
that they were angels sent unto him with 
glad tidings, but, with true Eastern polite- 
ness, he welcomed them cordially, entreat- 
ing them to tarry until they had refreshed 
themselves. His first act of hospitality 
toward his stranger-guests was to offer 
them water with which to wash their feet. 
This custom still prevails in India. One 
day, while visiting the ladies of a native 
household, a friend of the family arrived. 
She was hospitably welcomed by the in- 
mates of the zenana, one of whom ran at 
once and brought water, which was poured 
over her feet. 

Nothing is more common in India than 
to see persons carrying their beds. A 
company of travelers passing through a 
part of the country where there are stran- 
gers will sometimes, when night overtakes 
them, spread under a tree by the roadside 
the mats they have brought with them, and, 
wrapping themselves in the garments with 
which they have been girded by day, will 



152 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

sleep undisturbed until the morning, when, 
again girding themselves for travel, rolling 
together the mat upon which they have 
slept and securing it in the same bundle 
with their other scanty possessions, they 
will continue their journey. 

The road passing in front of our bunga- 
low leads to the Ganges. When the doors 
are thrown open, a sound of bitter wailing 
is sometimes borne to our ears, and, look- 
ing out, we see a funeral procession on its 
way to the sacred river. The body, wrapped 
in a new cloth, is laid upon a bed or a rude 
bier made of bamboo, over which have 
been spread straw and a piece of new cloth. 
Four men carry the bier to the river or 
place of burning, and repeat, as they move 
rapidly along, " Ram is true ! Ram is true!" 
Following the bier are the friends of the 
deceased making bitter lamentations. 

These sad funeral processions often bring 
to mind the New-Testament account of the 
company that gathered around the widow 
of Nain when with breakine heart she 
followed her only son to his burial. In 
India, when a body is taken to the river or 



EASTERN CUSTOMS. I 53 

to the place of burning, the procession 
halts at least once on the journey to per- 
form some idolatrous ceremonies. That 
funeral procession at Nain was stopped by 
the Lord himself, his heart full of com- 
passion for the mourner so stricken. He 
touched the bier and spoke to the young 
man whose ears death had stopped : the 
voice divine gave life to the dead — gave 
back to the mourning mother her son. 
When she passed outside the city gate, 
followed by a great company of sympa- 
thizing friends, her heart was desolate, her 
last earthly treasure torn from her grasp; 
when she passed through the gate of the 
city on her return-journey, she was once 
more a happy, rejoicing mother, and the 
sounds of lamentation were changed to 
shouts of rejoicing. 



CHAPTER XI. 

SOME SUPERSTITIONS OF THE PEOPLE OF 
INDIA. 



T 



HE life of a Hindu, from its beginning 
to its close, is hedged about with 
restrictions innumerable. Caste throws 
about him fetters from whose bondaofe he 
feels there is no escape. If born a Brah- 
man, he accepts his position as his right. 
He does not even, as the Pharisee, thank 
God that he is not as other men ; for is 
not he himself God ? He g^oes through 
life, from the cradle to the grave, with a 
haughty disregard for those beneath him ; 
their sorrows and their sufferings move 
him not. His world is another world from 
that in which the common herd live and 
move ; his highest ambition is to keep him- 
self from pollution with the unhallowed 
creatures about him, and to exact from 
them the deference due a being so exalted. 

154 




WORSHIPING A BRAHMAN. 



155 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

A man of low caste has never an aspira- 
tion above the scale of his birth. Have 
not the gods so decreed it? and what is he, 
that he should rebel against fate? He will 
worship, as becomes one of his low estate, 
the lordly Brahman, and perchance in some 
future birth he may be other than the 
despised creature he is at present. 

The Hindu is in bondag-e to the gfrossest 
superstitions. Superstition enters into the 
warp and the woof of his daily life. He is 
met on the very threshold of existence by 
this intolerant master, and to the end of 
life must serve him with rigor. Soon after 
the birth of a child the family priest or 
astrologer is called and the horoscope of 
the child is cast, and thus is forged the first 
link in the chain which will bind hand and 
foot its unresistine victim. 

A Hindu is not free, in the more import- 
ant matters of life, to act as inclination or 
judgment may dictate, nor is he less a slave 
to superstition and cunningly-devised fables 
in minor matters. No orthodox Hindu sets 
out upon a journey until he has first con- 
sulted a priest to ascertain if the time pro- 



SOME SUPERSTITIONS. 1 57 

posed be auspicious. Should the decision 
be adverse, he tarries at home until he can 
go forth assured that his journey will be a 
prosperous one. 

When a father desires to arrange a 
marriage for his daughter, and the friends 
and relatives have made choice of a person 
whom they regard as suitable, the famil) 
priest is consulted, and a copy of the horo 
scope of the intended bridegroom is pu 
into his hands. The priest gravely com- 
pares this with the horoscope of the bride 
expectant. Should he find that the stars 
of the horoscope of the intended bride- 
groom are more powerful than are those 
of'^he girl's horoscope, he declares that the 
marriage will be auspicious ; if otherwise, 
no matter how great may be the disap- 
pointment of the parties concerned, he 
does not hesitate to communicate the un- 
welcome intelligence. 

When a Hindu leaves his home on some 
errand of business or of pleasure and is 
obliged to turn back, he regards that as 
an ill omen and patiendy busies himself 
at home for a dme before he again sets out. 



158 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

The morning must be an anxious time to 
a credulous Hindu, for upon the sights that 
meet his eyes, the sounds that greet his 
ears, the creatures that cross his pathway, 
depends the success or the failure of the 
day's undertakings. Eyes and ears are 
therefore alert. If on the street, intent 
on business, or at home, occupied with 
his accustomed duties, he hears a person 
sneeze, he for a moment halts in his walk 
or pauses in his work. Failing to do this, 
he could not hope for success. To meet in 
the morning a person of bad reputation 
portends evil. If, therefore, during the day 
a Hindu meets with misfortune, he exclaims, 
" Alas ! what wretch's face did my eyes fall 
upon as I went forth this morning?" The 
cry of a jackal, heard at dawn, conveys to 
the Hindu the assurance that a death has 
just occurred. The monkey is regarded 
by the Hindus as sacred, yet it is esteemed 
a misfortune to hear the name of this ani- 
mal mentioned in the morning, as that por- 
tends hunger, and by a Hindu a full stom- 
ach is regarded as one of the supreme de- 
liehts of existence. A merchant will not sell 



l6o BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

to his most valued friend the smallest arti- 
cle on credit should that friend chance to 
be his first customer in the morning ; to do 
this would be to invite ill-luck for the entire 
day. He therefore insists that his first sale 
in the morning shall be a cash sale ; he is 
then ready to serve his friend, waiting his 
pleasure for payment. 

If a snake or a jackal or a cat chance to 
cross the path of a Hindu, he is disturbed ; 
for evil, he is sure, will betide him. To 
meet a person afflicted with blindness or 
a leper or one deformed or a widow also 
auofiirs misfortune. When a Hindu hears 
a crow cawing in a withered tree, he sighs, 
''Now I know that some evil is about to 
befall me." A fox crosses his path, and his 
heart is light; for this is a harbinger of 
good. He sees a lizard light on a passer-by 
and run nimbly up his body, and he moves 
forward with spirits elated, for this litde creat- 
ure is to him a messenger of blessing. He 
hears a bride cry as she is leaving the home 
of her parents for the home of her husband : 
this is an auspicious omen. A Brahman 
passes him bearing a vessel filled with 



SOME SUPERSTITIONS. l6l 

water from the Ganges, and he feels that 
he has received a benediction. As he is 
leaving his door in the morning the music 
of a temple-gong strikes on his ear, and his 
heart is glad ; for a day thus ushered in is 
sure to be a successful day. 

An owl hoots in the night, and terror 
seizes the Hindu ; for the owl is a bird of ill- 
omen — a sure harbinger of death — and 
with affrighted cries the unwelcome visi- 
tor is put to flight. The Hindu fancies that 
this bird waits and watches to do him evil ; 
a child's name is, therefore, never mentioned 
at night, lest an owl should hear it, and this 
hateful bird would, it is thought, repeat it 
every night, and the child, the innocent vic- 
tim of its evil influence, would pine away 
and die. The word samp, "3. snake," is 
never spoken by a Hindu at night ; to do 
this would, according to his superstition, 
brine the dreaded creature near. The 
word "wolf" for the same reason, is only 
pronounced in the daytime. 

The Hindustani word bujhdnd means " to 
extincTuish." The Hindus use it in refer- 
ence to fire, but not in reference to a lamp, 
11 



l62 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

though it appHes equally to both. To apply 
it to the latter would, they are taught to be- 
lieve, bring upon a family the direst of evils 
— the death of the husband and father, the 
lamp or light of the household. 

One Hindu woman never says to another, 
" Your child looks well and strong." The 
child may be in perfect health, plump and 
full of happy life, but the visitor, if she 
would please the mother, says, "Your child 
seems languid and looks thin and ill." To 
speak of the beauty or the fine condition 
of a child would make the mother tremble 
and fill her heart with fear lest the evil eye, 
cast upon her darling, should bring dis- 
aster. 

Upon entering a house or when sitting 
down, a Hindu removes his shoes; but 
should one shoe, as it is laid aside, fall upon 
the other, he does not suffer it to remain 
thus, because this would impel him to travel, 
and to prevent such a necessity the offend- 
ing shoe is instantly removed. 

The greatest festival of the Bengalee 
Hindus is held in honor of their goddess 
Doorga ; she is supposed to return to her 




THE GODDESS DOURGA. 



164 



BITS ABOUT INDIA. 



father's house at this time with her three 
children. Wealthy Hindus have a repre- 
sentation of the goddess in clay, and carry 




ORIENTAL PUTTING OFF HIS SHOES. 



out the whole of the ceremony in grand 
style. It lasts but one or two days, after 
which the idols are cast into the river. From 



SOME SUPERSTITIONS. 1 6$ 

the water, or through the water, the god- 
dess is supposed to go back to her husband, 
who is believed to Hve beyond the Hima- 
layas. 

As the Hindu goes on his way or tarries 
at home his spirits rise and fall as shadow 
and sunshine chase each other. Every hour 
of his life he is beset with fears or elated 
by hopes. 

To the peace which the heart of the 
Christian knows because his mind is stayed 
upon his God — a God who cares for him 
and who orders all his steps — the heart 
of the Hindu is a stranorer. 

o 



CHAPTER XII. 

A GLIMPSE OF HO ME -LIFE. 

BUT a short distance from our home 
Hves a Hindu family to whom I pay 
occasional visits. A door in the wall close 
by the roadside opens into a court in the 
centre of which is a small temple, its dome 
supported by slender pillars. In this tem- 
ple, on a slightly-elevated platform, is an 
idol which is usually decked with floral offer- 
ings. There is a well quite near the temple, 
and here the worshipers bathe. 

Passing through this court, the visitor 
enters a long, low passage. When I paid 
a recent visit to our Hindu neighbors, at the 
end of this passage I found a calf tied, and 
in a small court adjoining this entrance 
the mother-cow was secured. Close beside 
her, stretched on a bed, was a man, and on 
the floor beside him, his hookah. A door 

166 



A GLIMPSE OF HO ME- LIFE. 1 67 

from the small court opened into a larger 
court, where the female members of the 
family were assembled. This court was sur- 
rounded by apartments occupied by the 
various members of the household — low 
unattractive rooms with no light except 
that admitted through the door opening 
into the court. In the shelter of the ver- 
andas which shaded these cell-like rooms 
the women belonging to the household pass 
the day ; the rooms are used at night. 
They also serve as a place of deposit for 
all matters of value. The floor of the court 
was of earth, smooth and hard ; above was 
the clear blue sky. Tall trees rich in foliage 
flung their broad shadows on the court, and 
the rustling of the leaves in the soft sum- 
mer air was almost as musical as the carol 
of the birds sincring- in the branches. 

'' But where is the furniture of the house?" 
I am sure you would ask. You peer into 
one or two of the rooms and see only low, 
rude beds. On the ground, in a corner of 
one of the rooms, is a mat, and upon this 
is a small pillow. A large chest fastened 
with a curious lock occupies another corner, 



1 68 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

and near the door are a few brass vessels, 
some of which are really graceful In shape. 

On a low bed is stretched the mother of 
the family suffering from fever, and on the 
floor, within reach of her outstretched hands, 
is a hookah. 

Quite near the place where the mother 
lies is a small room gay with paint and tin- 
sel. A lamp is burning there, and before 
the entrance hanors a faded curtain. An old 
man enters and draws down the curtain, 
and soon from the place proceeds a low, 
monotonous chant. This little room is 
sacred to the Idol worshiped by the house- 
hold, and the gray old man is the family 
priest. No one notices him ; alone he per- 
forms his devotions, and then silently re- 
tires. 

Close beside the little room devoted to 
the idol Is a low sheltered place in which 
are placed several large brass vessels filled 
with water ; here the women of the house- 
hold bathe. Hung under the verandas are 
two or three cages, each containing a light- 
green parrot. In one part of the court- 
yard a servant Is busy scouring the brass 



A GLIMPSE OF HO ME- LIFE. 1 69 

vessels that have been used in the prepara- 
tion of food, and from which the food has 
been eaten. In a corner, under one of the 
verandas, is the mill by which is ground all 
the "corn" consumed by the family. In 
India the grinding of the corn is a part of 
the daily task in every household ; and this 
was doubtless the custom in Bible-times, for 
in Deuteronomy we find this injunction : 
" No man shall take the upper or the nether 
millstone to pledge, for he taketh a man's 
life to pledge." On the ground, beside the 
mill, are two or three finely-woven baskets 
in which to put the meal as it is ground. 
There are also wooden bowls or troughs 
for kneading the dough. Spread out on a 
bed in the sunshine is a quantity of pulse, 
which forms an article of food among the 
people of all classes. Scattered about on 
the verandas are mats made of coarse 
grass ; on these the women sit. In niches 
in the wails are little vessels of clay filled 
with oil; these are the lamps in use. Some 
of these little vessels are placed in sockets 
on a light standard which can be carried 
wherever a light is required. 



I/O BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

What a cheerless home ! There is no 
gathering of the family at meals, so a table 
is not required. Food is prepared by serv- 
ants or by the female members of the 
household ; and when the father, brothers 
and sons have satisfied their hunger — which 
they do sitting on the ground and eating 
with their fingers from the brass vessel or 
vessels in which the food is served — the 
women of the household may partake. 

" But this is a very poor family," you will 
say. By no means. It is a family of good 
position and of abundant means. The 
young bride of one of the sons of the great 
household was recently brought to the home 
of her husband, and she came laden with 
jewels ; jewels flashed from her neck, 
sparkled in her hair and glittered on her 
brow. There was a large ring in her nose. 
The ornaments in her ears were so heavy 
that they were supported by chains of gold, 
which were fastened in her hair. Her arms 
were laden with bracelets ; heavy bands of 
silver encircled her ankles, and the rings on 
her toes were like little bells and made a 
tinklinor sound as she moved. Her dress 



A GLIMPSE OF HOME- LIFE. I/I 

was of gay silk embroidered with gold. In 
honor of the occasion the female members 
of the household were all richly dressed 
and adorned with jewels. The bridegroom 
was the mother's favorite son, and she 
seemed very proud of the bride he had 
broueht home. This son had been educat- 

o 

ed in a mission school, and was glad to 
have his wife taught; the little bride was 
eager to learn, and made commendable 
progress. Two or three of the sisters, en- 
couraged by her example, desired also to 
learn, and thus several very promising 
pupils were secured. 

A DINNER-PARTY IN INDIA. 

The guests are all men. They have not 
met in a large, pleasant room handsomely 
furnished, but in an open court, with only 
the cloudless, starry sky above them. They 
are not clad in well-fitting suits of black, 
but in garments of curious shape and of 
divers colors. The feet of the assembled 
guests are all bare, and at the entrance is an 
odd collection of shoes ; for each guest, be- 
fore entering, has laid his aside. Some of 



1/2 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

the shoes are coarse and strong, others are 
elaborately embroidered, but all are finished 
at the toe by a point which turns up over 
the shoe. As these shoes are low and 
loose, they are easily removed. 

When the feast is ready to be served, 
each guest bathes his face, hands and feet 
with water from large jars at hand for the 
purpose. After bathing, the guests seat 
themselves upon the ground in a line, or in 
a circle if there are many, leaving a space 
open where servants may pass in and out. 
There are neither chairs, tables, dishes, 
knives, forks nor spoons, but by the side of 
many of the guests are brass drinking-ves- 
sels, clean and bright. These they have 
brought with them from their own homes, but 
it is not customary to bring to a feast the 
large brass plates from which food is usually 
eaten, nor is it expected that the host will 
provide them. He furnishes, however, a 
substitute — plates made of smooth, strong 
leaves joined together by thorns or pins of 
stiff straw. When the guests are in their 
places, a servant passes around and deposits 
before each guest one of these leaf-plates. 



A GLIMPSE OF HO ME- LIFE. 1 73 

For those who have not brought their own 
drlnklng-vessels Httle cups fresh from the 
potter are suppHed. These are very cheap, 
several being sold for a penny. 

At every entertainment among the peo- 
ple of India rice in some form is used. 
Cakes fried in ghi, or clarified butter, usu- 
ally form a part of the repast ; sweetmeats 
and curdled milk are also frequently fur- 
nished. Each person conveys the food to 
his mouth with his right hand, for this is the 
custom among rich and poor alike. When 
the feast is over, each guest washes his 
hands and rinses his mouth. A man of the 
lowest caste then gathers up and throws 
away the leaf-plates. The little cups of 
pottery, if any have been used, are thrown 
away. 

If women are invited to a public feast, 
they are the near relatives of the family, 
and they sit In the inner apartments with 
the women of the household, and are served 
there. 

A Hindu likes to Invite his friends to a 
feast when there is a birth in his household, 
but he must make a feast when a marriage 



174 ^^^'S' ABOUT INDIA. 

takes place or when a death occurs: falHng 
to do this, he would be put out of caste, 
and to a Hindu this is the greatest of all 
misfortunes. To avoid such a calamity he 
will borrow the means with which to enter- 
tain his friends, though he knows not how 
the debt can ever be repaid. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CHILD- WIVES. 

GIRLS in India are betrothed when 
they are mere children — sometimes 
even while they are infants. They usually 
remain with their mothers until they are 
twelve or thirteen years of age, when they 
are thrust out of the home-nest to begin 
life in a new home. 

We had not been long in India when 
we received an invitation to be present 
at the festivities connected with the mar- 
riage of the young daughter of a rich 
native banker. We were not asked to be 
present at the wedding-ceremony, but to 
meet a company of guests in a large and 
pleasant house in the midst of a garden 
where our host received his European 
friends on festive occasions. 

Leaving home a little earlier than the 

175 



176 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

time indicated in the note of invitation, we 
soon came upon a great procession, men, 
women and children, on their way to the 
house of the bride. All were arrayed in 
festive attire and, in accordance with Orien- 
tal taste, in gorgeous colors. Mingling 
with the throng were great numbers of 
servants bearing upon their heads, in shal- 
low brass trays, sweetmeats and other 
delicacies for the feast. Elephants covered 
with richly-embroidered cloths were in the 
procession ; camels, too, were there, em- 
broidered trappings thrown over their lank 
sides. 

Upon our arrival at the house a very 
imposing personage in dress of spotless 
white ushered us into the apartment where 
the oruests were assembled. The fierce 
heat of an April day made particularly 
grateful the delicious coolness of the apart- 
ment, rendered thus pleasant by artificial 
means. Rich chandeliers were suspended 
from the ceiling ; the floor was covered 
with fine matting, and the room was fur- 
nished with comfortable couches. Outside 
a well-trained European band was playing, 



CHILD-WIVES. 177 

but above all rose the hum of the happy, 
excited multitude. 

The doors opening on the street were 
thrown open as the announcement was 
made that the procession had arrived on its 
way to the house of the bride. F'irst came 
a band of musicians, then a company of 
boys bearing gay pennants ; the richly-ca- 
parisoned horses followed, then the fine ele- 
phants and the solemn camels. Then came 
other bands of music, followed by four 
litters filled with dancing-girls, and behind 
these the throng of servants bearing trays 
upon their heads. 

As we watched the gay procession a fine 
barouche drawn by spirited horses halted 
before one of the entrances, and the bride- 
groom sprang upon the pavement. A 
moment later, and the boy-bridegroom — 
for he was but seventeen years of age — 
was ushered into the hall ; passing through 
the throng of guests to a seat by one of 
the open doors, he pleasantly saluted those 
near him. He was richly dressed. A long, 
loose garment of cloth of gold studded 
with pearls completely enveloped his figure. 
12 



178 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

He wore a turban of the same material 
ornamented with jewels. His face, other- 
wise pleasant in expression, was marred by 
the idolatrous marks upon it. He remained 
a short time, then stepped into his carriage 
and was rapidly whirled away. The little 
bride, of course, we did not see. For the 
European guests the entertainment closed 
with a display of fireworks, but at the home 
of the bride the feasting and the cere- 
monies connected with such an occasion 
continued for several days, and were very 
elaborate. 

Not long since, we were living in tents 
in the district. One day we heard a great 
noise outside, and, looking out of the tent 
door, we saw a wedding-procession passing 
alonof the road. There was a band of 
musicians, and in a litter covered with a 
gay canopy was the boy-bridegroom. The 
procession halted for several hours in a 
grove, and just at nightfall the bride and 
groom, accompanied by a party of friends, 
came over to a shrine quite near our en- 
campment to present their offerings. The 
bride was a child six or seven years of age, 



CHILD-WIVES. 179 

and the bridegroom a boy of about the 
same age. Their upper garments were 
tied together by a knot, and, while the 
young child-groom was carried in the arms 
of one of the women, the bride was led by 
the hand. 

On another occasion while living in tents 
we saw a wedding-procession leaving a 
house. In one of the litters was the bride, 
a little girl about six years of age. Poor 
little infant ! She seemed greatly fright- 
ened to see so many people about her, 
apparently not understanding the meaning 
of the strangle ceremonies that were beinof 
performed. As she was being borne along 
some toys were put into her lap to amuse 
her. 

In one of the villages where we made 
our encampment when on a tour in the 
district lived a rajah with a fair litde daugh- 
ter about twelve years of age who had 
several years before been betrothed to die 
son of a rajah living in another part of 
India. While we were encamped in the 
village the young rajah came to bear away 
his bride. For several weeks extensive 



l8o BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

preparations had been In progress for the 
important event. A village of tents had 
sprung into existence upon the plain, and 
to add to the pomp of the occasion ele- 
phants, camels and horses had been arriv- 
ing from all directions. Great quantities 
of provisions had been laid in store, for 
hundreds of guests were expected, and the 
wedding-festivities would continue for three 
days. 

At the appointed time, accompanied by 
a large party of friends and a small army 
of retainers, the groom arrived by special 
train. With much ceremony he was es- 
corted to the encampment prepared for his 
reception, a band of music in attendance 
m.ean while discoursing lively airs for the 
entertainment of the people. The guests 
now came pouring in from all directions, 
and as if by magic tents shot up wherever 
there was a bit of level ground. Crim- 
son and oranore banners floated in the 
breeze and crowds of people In holiday 
attire loitered about, while in every di- 
rection were seen elephants, camels and 
horses. 



CHILD-WIVES. 18 1 

Just before the going down of the sun 
we went out to view the brilHant scene — 
the throngs of happy people, the elephants 
in glittering howdahs and rich saddle-cloths, 
the camels in gay trappings and the pran- 
cing horses in fantastic livery. Sudden- 
ly, as if in obedience to the wand of an 
enchanter, the moving mass fell into line ; 
the whole, arranged with wonderful effect 
and lighted by the rays of the setting sun, 
formed a gorgeous pageant, a show of 
barbaric splendor such as one seldom 
sees even in the Orient. The groom was 
about to pay his first visit of ceremony to 
the house of the bride. As he advanced 
with his glittering train a company mounted 
on elephants, camels and horses, all richly 
caparisoned, came out to meet the bride- 
groom and to escort him to the home of 
the bride. The scene was one of great 
splendor and magnificence. 

At the time of this visit the groom re- 
ceived the first instalment of presents — the 
bride's dowry — and at each succeeding 
visit gifts would be bestowed. In this in- 
stance the gifts consisted of gold coin, 



1 82 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

elephants, camels and horses. The Brah- 
man priests in attendance were well re- 
membered, receiving one hundred cows 
and one hundred pieces of gold, as well 
as liberal supplies of food. 

The procession returned to the camp 
after nightfall, lighted torches throwing a 
weird brightness over the scene and a band 
of music playing lively airs. At the con- 
clusion of the ceremonies, the feasting and 
the festivities the bride was borne away to 
the home of her husband. 

Poor little child-wife ! Thrust out of her 
home and away from the mother-love that 
has been around her from her infancy — 
thrust out into a world of which she has 
had hardly a glimpse — is she not to be 
pitied ? 

" She will not be able to come back to us 
for a long time," the father said, " the dis- 
tance is so great and the expense incident 
upon the journey so considerable." 

Perhaps the young girl will be kindly 
treated in her new home. We trust so, 
but it is very sad to see a mere child made 
a wife. This is one of the cruel and unrea- 



CHILD- WIVES. 1 8 3 

sonable customs of India, and it is only as 
the people learn and receive into their 
hearts the truths of a religion purer than 
their own— even the truths of the gospel— 
that they will abandon this along with many 
other wrong and foolish practices. Mar- 
riage is a very sacred ordinance, but such 
marriao-es as these are very sad. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE BOYS OF INDIA. 

THE boys of India are as merry and as 
fond of play as are the boys of Amer- 
ica or of England. We often hear their 
shouts of laughter as they pass along the 
street. At one season of the year every 
boy has his kite, and wherever there is a 
bit of open space, there we are sure to see 
a group of boys flying kites — large boys 
as well as small ones. When the weather 
has become so warm that kite-flying is no 
longer pleasant, we see from almost every 
tree near a village a swing suspended, and 
it is seldom empty. 

But not all the children of India are free 
to play ; the children of very poor people 
are obliged to work as soon as they are 
old enough to do anything. 

184 



THE BOYS OF INDIA. 1 85 

Once, after a very heavy rain, a part of 
the wall around our " compound " fell down. 
When this wall was rebuilt, women and 
children were employed to help in the work. 
They came, a great number, each provided 
with a basket. For each basketful of earth 
carried a certain number of little shells was 
given. It takes a great quantity of these 
shells to make a penny, but they are the 
currency used by the poor in making their 
small purchases. 

Some time ago I visited a garden in which 
were several pavilions. The roof of one 
of these was in process of repair, and boys 
were brino-ine baskets of earth from a bank 
near at hand to spread upon the roof. I 
noticed that one quite small boy was crying 
as he carried his load. 

"What is the matter?" I asked. 

The boy made no answer ; and when I 
turned, I saw standing not far off a man 
with a whip in his hand. 

"Have you beaten that little boy?" I 
asked. 

"Yes," he answered. "Boys are lazy; 
and when they do not work well, I beat 



1 86 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

them. I must do this, or nothing would be 
done." 

I looked again at the boy. He was small 
and did not seem strong, and I saw that it 
was very hard for him to climb the long 
ladder with his heavy load. 

We see boys in the city every day carry- 
ing boxes on their heads : they are the serv- 
ants of natives who keep a little stock of 
thread, needles, buttons, soap, and many 
other such things. They do not keep these 
articles in a neat shop, but in a box in 
some corner of their little homes. Every 
day they visit the houses of Europeans in 
the vicinity, and, opening their boxes, dis- 
play their goods, hoping to find customers. 
I have sometimes seen a tall, strong man 
walking along, and behind him a boy stag- 
gering under the weight of the box he car- 
ried for his master. 

We frequently see boy-merchants. Some 
of these boys are the sons of small dealers, 
and their fathers, in order to teach them to 
be shrewd in trade, send them alone, when 
quite young, to sell their wares. These 
boy-merchants, if poor, carry their own 



THE BOYS OF INDIA. 1 8/ 

boxes, but as soon as they can afford to do 
so they employ some one to do this work 
for them — perhaps a boy no larger than 
themselves. 

Boys livlno- in the country work in the 
gardens or help in the cultivation of the 
fields. When fruit is ripening, they are 
employed to watch the trees and frighten 
away the birds. 

But perhaps some one will ask, " Do the 
boys in India never attend school ?" Cer- 
tainly they do, and many of them learn their 
lessons well and quickly. In the veranda 
of a house in a narrow lane not far from 
our bungalow is a boys' school taught by a 
heathen teacher. All the children sit on 
the floor, their feet crossed under them. 
Those who are learning the alphabet or 
easy lessons hold in their hands a little 
black-painted wooden slate upon which 
are printed the letters or the words. Each 
boy studies aloud, and as he studies rocks 
backward and forward. The older boys 
have books, but they study aloud just as do 
the younger pupils. The teacher sits upon 
a mat and calls his pupils to him when he 



1 88 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

wishes to know if they have learned their 
tasks. 

In a large school which I have visited, and 
which is under the charge of a missionary, 
the boys are carefully instructed and taught 
to be orderly and to conduct themselves 
with propriety. They also learn of the one 
true God and of the duty they owe to 
him. 

In this school, at the time of my visit, 
were several boys belonging to the family 
of a nobleman. These boys all wore very 
fine clothing. Their caps were of velvet 
and silk embroidered with gold and silver; 
their long, loose robes were of rich material 
handsomely trimmed. In the same classes 
with these elegantly-attired young gentle- 
men were boys belonging to poor families 
and wearing not only plain, but scanty, 
clothing. 

One day, sitting in the house of a Hindu, 
I was trying to instruct a group of women 
gathered about me. While I was thus oc- 
cupied several men stopped before the door 
and began to sing. Two or three of the 
women immediately rose and went to an- 



THE BOYS OF INDIA. 1 89 

Other part of the house. They soon re- 
turned, each woman bringing with her a 
small quantity of grain, which she threw into 
the vessels with which the singers were pro- 
vided. When they joined the listening group 
again, one of the women said in explanation, 

" These are the priests of our gods, and 
they were singing the praises of the gods 
they serve. If we feed them, our gods will 
be pleased." 

On a low stool, listening to the reading, 
sat a brother of one of the women. 

*'It is not true that the gods will be 
pleased," said this youth, "for there is but 
one God, and he has said that we must not 
worship the images w^hich our own hands 
have made, for they are no gods." 

" Where have you learned this ?" I 
asked. 

"At school," he answered; "there I 
learned about God and about his Son Jesus 
Christ, who died to save us." 

Sometimes the teachers, on going to the 
school, find the rooms almost empty, and 
the pupils who are present ask if they too 
may be excused. It is a heathen holiday, 



IQO BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

and on such occasions men, women and 
children repair to the river, the spring, the 
grove or the temple to present their offer- 
ings and to worship. 

A favorite deity is Ganesh, the god of 
wisdom and policy, a monster with four 
arms and the head of an elephant. This 
god is invoked by the Hindus in all mat- 
ters of business, and especially in all new 
undertakings. His image is frequently 
placed over the doors of houses and shops 
to insure success in business. Upon the 
first leaf of the schoolbooks belonorincr to a 

o o 

Hindu youth is inscribed a short prayer to 
Ganesh ; in a niche in the wall in every 
school in a Hindu village is usually found 
a small image of Ganesh. A missionary 
tells us that he once found a Brahman lad, 
a pupil in one of his schools, crying bitterly. 
He had quarreled with a schoolfellow, who 
in anger had threatened to present an offer- 
inor to Ganesh to induce this eod to make 
him fail in his recitations and fall below 
him in his class ; and this was the cause 
of the little fellow's distress. 

The children in India — and, I suppose, in 






/ 



^ 9 © 3j3t { 







GANESH, THE GOD OF WISDOM. 



192 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

every heathen land — are taught to speak 
what is not true. They hear their parents 
and others around them gravely speaking 
what is false whenever they think it will be 
for their advantage to do so, either to hide 
a fault or to secure a favor. 

A little boy received a present of a book. 
One of his companions offered to give him 
a small price for it, and the book speedily 
changed owners. The original possessor 
did not intend, however, to do without a 
book. Going with a very sad face to the 
friend from whom he had received the 
one he had sold, he told him that on his 
way to school, as he was running along, he 
slipped near the edge of a tank, and his 
book, escaping from his hand, tumbled into 
the water and was ruined. He seemed really 
sorry, and said he had no money with which 
to buy another ; so his kind friend gave him 
a second book, and the boy hastened home 
to tell his parents and his playmates how 
cleverly he had managed. 

A lady who felt an interest in the chil- 
dren of her servants asked one of them 
who was the mother of a bright little boy to 



THE BOYS OF INDIA. 1 93 

send her son every day that he might be 
instructed with some other boys who came 
for a lesson. But the boy had always spent 
his time in play, and did not care to learn. 
His mother, afraid of displeasing her mis- 
tress, tried by promises and threats to in- 
duce her son to obey her, but, knowing by 
experience that his mother would neither 
give what she had promised nor punish as 
she had threatened, the young rebel refused 
to obey. The mother, therefore, each day 
presented herself before her mistress with 
a fresh excuse. One day her son had no 
clean clothing in which he could appear ; 
another day, his head was aching ; a third 
day, his eyes were sore ; again, he had 
sprained his ankle. At length, feeling sure 
that these were but excuses, the lady insisted 
upon knowing the true reason. The moth- 
er then acknowledged that her son would 
not obey her. 

While spending a season in Kashmir we 
were one day making an excursion upon 
the great river Jhilum. As our boat landed 
at a little town along our route a boy- mer- 
chant leaped on board ; the bundle slung 

13 



194 ^^TS ABOUT INDIA. 

over his shoulder contained his stock in 
trade. His small store was soon spread 
out before us, and from it we selected such 
things as we required, and paid the stipu- 
lated price. The little merchant then pre- 
sented a book, saying, 

" Please write something in this. Say 
that you have purchased these articles from 
me, and that they are good in quality. 
This will help me in getting other custom- 
ers." 

Pleased with the shrewd young merchant, 
we cheerfully complied with his request, 
his bright eyes following us as we wrote. 
Presently he asked, 

" Are you putting down the price you 
have given me ?" 

" Yes," was answered. 

With a quick, impatient gesture he ex- 
claimed, 

" Don't write the true price, but this," 
naming a much larger sum than he had 
received. 

" We cannot do that, for it would not be 
true," we answered, looking straight into 
the eyes of the boy, who did not in the 




ON THE RIVER JHILUM. 



196 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

least mind the grave looks which were 
bent upon him, but in a perfectly-possessed 
manner said, 

*' That does not matter. Strangers, when 
they wish to buy, look into this book to see 
who has purchased and what amount has 
been paid. They think the amount written 
is, of course, the proper price, and so I 
make more money than if the true price 
had been written. Do you not under- 
stand?" he asked, as if wondering that any 
one could be so stupid. 

''We certainly shall write the true price," 
was answered. 

" Then do not write the true number of 
articles," he pleaded. 

At this some of the boatmen laughed 
and said, 

'' That is a shrewd lad, and will make his 
way in the world." 

All this time we had been gliding down 
the stream and the boy drifting away from 
his home. Presently a boat that was passing 
up the river drew near. Quickly the boy 
gathered into a bundle his stock of mer- 
chandise, and, calling to the boatmen, en- 



THE BOYS OF INDIA. 1 97 

gaged them to leave him at his home. 
Turning toward us with a graceful salaam, 
he leaped into the boat with a light step, 
but in doing so his snow-white turban fell 
into the water. Seizing it quickly, he shook 
the water from its folds, and, calling back 
to us in a cheery voice that it was a matter 
of no consequence, his bright face w^as 
soon lost to sight. 

At one time, when on an itineration in 
the district, a house belonging to a petty 
rajah was kindly placed at our disposal 
while we remained in his village. This 
rajah had a grandson about six years of 
age, and not long after our arrival this 
litde boy came over to our bungalow. He 
was riding a small pony, and was attended by 
several servants. He dismounted and with- 
out the slightest embarrassment entered the 
house, and, standing before me, made a low 
and very graceful salaam. 

"Where is the gendeman ?" he then 
asked. 

" He is not at home," was answered. 

" Then I will not stop now, but will come 
again when he is at home," he replied, and, 



198 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

making another salaam, turned away, the 
train of men, boys and dogs following. 

I was greatly amused at the gravity of 
this small man. He came ao^ain a short 
time after, accompanied by the rajah his 
grandfather. This time, finding the "gen- 
tleman " at home, he condescended to be 
entertained. He was dressed in closely- 
fitting undergarments and a handsomely- 
embroidered tunic. He wore on his head 
a gold-embroidered cap, while ornaments 
encircled his delicate wrists, and also his 
ankles. How pretty he was ! and how 
graceful every movement! Many quaint 
observations the little fellow made, and 
many curious questions he asked. When 
tired of the talk of grown-up people, he 
wandered outside to find entertainment 
among the servants, issuing his commands 
as gravely as his grandfather would have 
done, and the servants obeyed this small 
rajah without questioning. 

While we remained in the village we saw 
this little boy several times. He was al- 
ways handsomely dressed, and was usually 
riding a pretty pony and accompanied by sev- 



THE BOYS OF INDIA. 1 99 

eral attendants. He was a most engaging 
little fellow, but he was the child of heathen 
parents. He was surrounded by heathen, 
and, though so young, he was taught to bow 
down to idols and to bring to those dumb 
images his offerings. 

How blest are the dear children in Chris- 
tian homes ! Thank God for all his good 
gifts to you, and remember those who are 
not thus blessed. 



CHAPTER XV. 

CHRISTMAS IN INDIA. 

QUITE near the house which we for 
several years occupied Hved a lady in 
a beautiful home. Three lovely chil- 
dren made music and sunshine in that happy 
home. To these favored children the glad 
Christmas-time was sure to brinof much 
good cheer, but the grateful mother re- 
membered also the little ones about her to 
whom Christmas would bring only eager 
longings. For weeks before the holidays 
this excellent Christian lady was occupied 
in preparing a Christmas treat for the poor 
children of the neighborhood. Not only 
was a great store of toys provided, but the 
lady's busy fingers and fine taste fashioned 
many beautiful and useful articles. 

The day so anxiously w^aited for came at 
length, and at the appointed hour a company 

200 



CHRISTMAS IN INDIA. 201 

of very happy little people assembled in the 
large and pleasant grounds, and from the 
kind hostess each timid little one received a 
cordial welcome. Christmas-time in India is 
not ushered in by biting winds and leaden 
skies : it comes decked with flowers. The 
trees are heavy with foliage, the skies are 
blue and the sun shines with so fierce a 
heat that the shade is welcome. On the 
broad verandas of the dwelling refresh- 
ments were served to the children and 
young people, who laughed and chat- 
ted and heartily enjoyed the good things 
provided for them. 

When the shadows began to lengthen, 
the children were summoned to a large tent 
in the midst of the grounds. The curtains 
were lifted, and a scene of wondrous beauty 
burst upon the vision. The great Christ- 
mas tree was a blaze of light, and suspend- 
ed from its branches and nestling beneath 
its shadows were so many lovely things that 
exclamations of delight burst from the lips 
of many of the children. When the richly- 
fruited tree had been sufficiently admired, 
loving hands released the pretty gifts and 



202 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

sent them among the waiting guests. How 
eagerly each child stepped forward as his 
or her name was pronounced ! while joy 
lighted each face and sparkled from every 
eye. At last the tree stood bare. The 
wax tapers were burning low, but the chil- 
dren lingered as if the place still held a 
charm for them. Some were proudly dis- 
playing their gifts to their companions ; 
others pressed tightly in their arms their 
new treasures, as if fearing they would slip 
from their grasp. 

In the midst of the happy children stood 
a little girl poorly clad ; she had come from 
a home of want, and her child-life had been 
brightened by few of the pleasures that 
belong to happy homes. The little girl 
held in her arms a large and beautiful doll 
handsomely dressed, but the child held her 
treasure loosely, and there was no light in 
her eyes and no smile on her face. Turn- 
ing to a lady standing near her, she said in 
a disappointed tone, 

"And I got only this doll and a bag of 
sweets !" 

Poor child ! she had seen the tree laden 



CHRISTMAS IN INDIA. 203 

with gifts, and, forgetting how large was 
the number to be provided for, felt grieved 
that from such a store so small a share had 
fallen to her lot. 

Another Christmas which it is pleasant 
to remember was spent with missionary- 
friends in a distant station. These friends 
labor among the Santhals, one of the abo- 
rieinal races of India. The Santhals are a 
rude people fond of active life, and " mighty 
hunters," like the Indians of North America. 
Though not quick to learn like their shrewd- 
er neighbors the Hindus, yet, since mission- 
aries have been sent among them, they have 
shown such capacity for improvement, and 
so many have turned to the Lord from the 
grossest heathenism, that there is great en- 
couragement to labor for them. 

Quite near the dwelling occupied by our 
host was a plain and substantial building 
which served as both a church and a school. 
Between this building and the bungalow of 
the missionary was a long, low row of 
houses occupied by the girls of the board- 
ing-school. 

Many of the Christian Santhals lived in 



204 ^^'^^ ABOUT INDIA. 

villages in the district, but a large number 
came in to spend the Christmas-time with 
their fellow-Christians in Pachamba. 

We wakened early on this bright Christ- 
mas morning, but not before there was a 
stir outside. We heard just at daybreak 
soft footfalls on the veranda, and the mur- 
mur of suppressed voices. When we came 
out of our room, we learned the meaning 
of all this. Passing through the dining- 
room, we found it decked with garlands of 
flowers. The pleasant family-parlor was 
gay with similar decorations, and across 
the arches of the long verandas festoons 
of flowers were thrown. 

" The schoolgirls have done this," our 
hostess said, in answer to our questioning 
looks. " They were here before the dawn, 
with their garlands, waiting for entrance, 
that they might give the house a holiday 
look before we appeared, thus furnishing a 
pleasant surprise for us." 

It was beautiful to begin the day which 
commemorates the coming of Christ, God's 
greatest gift to man, by taking such loving 
thought for others. 



CHRISTMAS IN INDIA. 20$ 

In the morning there was a service in the 
church to which the old and young, parents 
and children, came to learn of Christ and 
to sing his praises. It was delightful to see 
there worshiping in the temple of the Lord 
those who but a short time before had for 
the first time heard of Jesus the Saviour. 
One orphan Santhal youdi who had some 
poetical genius as well as unusual musical 
gifts, assisted by two or three of his com- 
panions, sang on this occasion a Christmas 
hymn of his own composidon, set to one 
of their native airs. The performance was 
by no means discreditable. 

The missionaries had provided the means 
for a feast for these Santhal Christians, and 
in happy preparation for this much of the 
day was spent. The Santhals have no such 
prejudice against the use of beef as high- 
caste Hindus entertain, and as a part of the 
feast a young cow was provided. This, 
when slaughtered, was cut into small bits — 
no easy matter, but in India, as elsewhere, 
many hands make light work, and this 
tedious process, because so cheerfully per- 
formed, was not reorarded as a task. The 



2o6 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

meat was made into curry, of which the 
natives of India are very fond. A large 
quantity of rice was provided, and with an 
abundance of rice and curry they were 
happy indeed. Trenches were made in 
the ground for the fires, and large vessels 
of pottery were used in which to boil the 
rice and stew the curry. 

While the men and the boys were en- 
gaged in preparing the meat and in grind- 
ing the spices there was work for the women 
and the girls as well. The food was not 
served in dainty china; our simple Santhals 
would not have known how to use anything 
so elegant. A few of the number w^ere 
the happy possessors of brass vessels ; 
these had been scoured until they shone 
like mirrors. For the remainder, and far 
larger part, of the company, leaf-plates had 
been prepared. Large and tough green 
leaves had been gathered, and these were 
*' sewed" or pinned together with thorns or 
fine bamboo splints. I expect that in this 
very way Adam and Eve made their first 
garments, of which we read in the book of 
Genesis. These carefully-prepared leaf- 



CHRISTMAS IN INDIA. 20/ 

plates were placed one within another, 
made into convenient piles and then tied 
together with a wisp of straw. 

About sunset the announcement was 
made that all things were ready, and the 
guests needed no second bidding to the 
feast that had been prepared ; they fell 
into line and marched to the place on the 
open plain where the feast was to be served. 
The possessors of brass vessels carried 
them on their heads. Mats were spread 
upon the ground, and upon these the com- 
pany sat, except those appointed to dis- 
tribute the good things. The carefully- 
prepared rice was piled into large baskets, 
and looked like newly-fallen snow, while 
the curry sent forth a savory smell. Every- 
thing seemed very tempting to good appe- 
tites, and the scene was certainly very beau- 
tiful. The guests appeared very happy as 
they took their places on the mats spread 
for them. 

The hum of joyous voices was hushed 
while one of the missionaries present rev- 
erently asked God's blessing upon the food 
of which they were about to partake. The 



208 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

leaf-plates were then distributed, and those 
who served passed rapidly around with 
baskets of rice and vessels filled with the 
savory stew. Each one received for his 
or her portion two large handfuls of rice 
and a measure of curry. The rice and 
the curry were then mixed with the right 
hand and conveyed to the mouth by the 
same means. I have seen few happier 
companies than this Christmas gathering 
of Santhal Christians. The provision was 
ample and the food such as they enjoyed. 
If, in addition to their rice and curry, they 
had been served with curdled milk and a 
liberal supply of the sweetmeats of the 
country, they would have esteemed it a 
banquet fit for a king. 

Of course this festival differed greatly 
from the Christmas entertainments our 
American friends are accustomed to have 
in their Sunday-schools ; but for a mission- 
ary land it was very enjoyable. 

It was necessary that we should leave 
Pachamba by the evening train, and we 
could not, therefore, tarry until the close 
of the feast. As we left the grounds we 



CHRISTMAS IN INDIA. 209 

Stopped to examine a unique Christmas 
tree. Some of the older boys had brought 
from the forest a tall and shapely tree,, 
which they had made fast in the earth, 
lliis was crowned by a gay paper umbrel- 
la, which by an ingenious contrivance they 
had made to revolve. The treasures sus- 
pended from the branches of this Christmas 
tree were remarkable chiefly for their sim- 
plicity — small portions of the common sweet- 
meats of the country, scraps of gay cloth, 
feathers dropped from the wings of bright- 
plumaged birds, and even some parts of 
the animal they had slaughtered. They 
had heard of the Christmas trees with 
their varied fruits, in which the children of 
other lands delight, and this feeble imitation 
told its own pathetic story. 

The shadows of night were gathering as 
we drove away, and, looking back to catch 
yet another glimpse of that scene under 
the starry sky, we saw the Christmas tree 
suddenly flash forth into brightness. How 
they had lighted that strange tree I cannot 
tell you, but as we saw its litde lights 
gleaming it seemed to us a beautiful type 

14 



210 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

of the light which the gospel Is shedding, 
and will continue to shed more and more 
abundantly until that glad day so long 
foretold shall come when " the earth shall 
be filled with the knowledge of the glory 
of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." 



CHAPTER XVI. 

A NEW YEAR'S DAY IN INDIA. 

I SHOULD like to tell you how we 
spent one New Year's day in India. 
We were not living in a house, but in a 
tent quite in the country. Under some 
fine trees in a grove not far from the road- 
side our canvas house had been set up a 
few days before the opening of the New 
Year. Shaded from the sun by an awning, 
we sat in the tent door on this first morn- 
ing of the year, enjoying the pure air and 
the pleasant warmth. The great trees 
which overshadowed our tent were rich in 
foliao;e, and the fields around us were 
green. Brown-skinned children were frol- 
icking in the sunshine, and everything 
seemed full of life and motion. On the 
road, in full view, long trains of clumsy 
carts with ponderous wooden wheels went 

211 



212 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

creaking by. They were drawn by oxen 
with large humps between their shoulders. 
A string of camels next passed, the rope 
tied to the ring in the nose of one animal 
fastened to the tail of the camel directly 
in front of him, and thus bound together 
they moved slowly and solemnly along, 
two or three baby-camels, unfettered, with 
awkward motion running by the side of 
the mother-camels. As we watched them 
there came to our ears the low and not 
unmusical sound of bells, and soon a com- 
pany of pilgrims appeared. Each man 
carried suspended from the ends of a pole 
resting upon one of his shoulders two bas- 
kets, each enclosed in a frame or net and 
containing, perhaps, the ashes of some 
deceased friend. These pilgrims were on 
their way to the Ganges. There they 
would deposit the sacredly-guarded ashes, 
bathe in the venerated stream, worship at 
the various shrines, make offerings to the 
priests, and then return to their distant 
homes, carrying with them vessels filled 
with water from the sacred river. Scarcely 
had these pilgrims passed out of sight 



A NEW YEAR'S DAY EN INDIA. 213 

when a wedding-procession came into 
view. Musicians were in attendance, and 
gay litde banners fluttered in the breeze. 
Poorly atured as were many of the people 
in the procession, yet there was about them 
a holiday look that it was pleasant to see. 
Amidst the clang and the clamor made by 
the musicians a sound greeted our ears 
which reminded us of merry sleigh-bells 
in another land, and soon a curious litde 
vehicle passed by. It was drawn by a 
very small and ill-favored pony, around 
whose neck was suspended a string of 
bells. 

But we had promised to go into town to 
attend a children's service that day, and we 
could not longer sit in the tent door. 
What a pleasant sight were the gardens 
as we drove along ! There were exquisite 
flowers in bloom, rare rich roses brilliant 
in color and heavy with perfume. There 
came to us, borne on the air, the faint, 
delicious fragrance of mignonette and helio- 
trope. The verandas of some of our 
neighbors were aflame with the gorgeous 
blossoms of a luxuriant creeper, and over 



214 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

a tree a creeping plant had climbed and 
twisted until it stood forth a pyramid of 
showy bloom. The oranges hung ripe on 
the boughs of the low trees, and there 
were rich clusters of the banana in the 
midst of great shining green leaves. There 
was not a cloud in the sky, and the sun 
shone with a heat that was oppressive at 
noonday. 

When we reached the church, a large 
number of children had already assembled. 
What happy faces they wore, and how 
cheerful were their voices ! It was " Chil- 
dren's Day," and very important the litde 
people looked as they filed into the front 
seats in the body of the church. Very 
heartily they joined in the singing, and 
sweet and clear were their voices. 

The pastor took his place in the pulpit, 
and after a brief and earnest prayer 
preached a sermon prepared especially for 
the children, full of precious truth and in 
language so simple that the very youngest 
could understand the message. The chil- 
dren listened attentively and with no sign 
of impatience, though spread temptingly 



A NE W YEAR 'S DA Y IN INDIA. 2 1 5 

on the table before the pulpit were the 
beautiful books which kind friends had 
provided — a gift for each child. 

At the conclusion of the service the pas- 
tor stepped out of the pulpit, and, taking 
his place before the gift-laden table, called 
two or three friends to his assistance, and 
the presents were soon distributed. There 
were books suitable for the pupils of the 
more advanced classes, and books for the 
very youngest. It was pleasant to observe 
that the children received the beautiful 
books with a low-spoken "Thank you" or 
a graceful bow. After the distribution of 
the gifts another hymn of praise was sung, 
and with a prayer and a benediction the 
services closed. 

We returned to our tents, and as the sun 
was sinking in the west the missionary and 
his helpers went out to a neighboring vil- 
lage. Soon a little company gathered about 
them, and as they sat together in the twi- 
light they told to the waiting company the 
story of a Saviour's love. The people lis- 
tened with apparent interest, and as the 
darkness deepened women from the low 



2l6 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

houses near at hand glided out and, cover- 
ing themselves with their veils, sat in little 
groups within sound of the speaker's voice, 
and heard — it may be for the first time — 
the sweet gospel story. The stars came 
out, and still the people lingered. Some 
times a question was asked, sometimes a 
dissenting voice was heard, and occasionally 
some one in the audience, addressing the 
speaker, would say with emphasis, "Your 
words are good words ; they are true 
words." At last the people returned to 
their homes, and in the clear starlight the 
preachers came back to their tents. 

The doors were made fast for the night, 
and the watchmen sent to guard our en- 
campment took up their monotonous call. 
The day was ended — the first day of the 
New Year. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

A CHURCH ON THE RIVER JUMNA. 

THE fort at Allahabad is built at the 
junction of two great rivers, the 
Ganges and the Jumna. On the banks of 
these streams are many temples, but on the 
Jumna, about a mile from the fort, is a 
Christian sanctuary — a pleasant sight in the 
midst of so many idolatrous shrines. Many 
years ago a large bungalow on this stream 
was purchased for a mission house, and 
in this same enclosure a neat little church 
was built ; and here a Christian congrega- 
tion still meets for worship. Not far from 
the mission bungalow the river is spanned 
by a very fine bridge over which heavy- 
laden railway-trains frequently pass. On 
the river curious barges are slowly plied 
by dusky natives, who look up with eyes 
full of wonder as a long railway-train with 

217 



2l8 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

its shrieking engine rumbles across the 
bridore. 

The church stands in the midst of the park- 
Hke enclosure, and in the grounds are many 
beautiful trees with spreading branches, 
while here and there a tall palm lifts its 
graceful head. When there is a large gath- 
erinof of missionaries for the transaction of 
business connected with their work, tents 
are sometimes pitched in this compound, 
and for a few days these canvas houses be- 
come the houses of the assembled mission- 
aries, while they meet for worship in the 
church, whose doors are thrown open to 
let in the sunshine and the soft, warm 
air. 

The first general missionary conference 
in India convened in Allahabad in Decem- 
ber, 1872. The sessions of the conference 
were held in this church on the banks of the 
Jumna, and in the spacious grounds be- 
tween forty and fifty large army-tents were 
pitched for the accommodation of the dele- 
gates assembled on this occasion. 

In this compound, under the great trees, 
in the shade, little children — some with pale 



220 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

faces, and others with brown skins — gambol 
about, as happy as frisking lambs. The 
home of the Christian natives connected with 
this church is just outside the enclosure. 

In the year 1857, during the mutiny, much 
property was destroyed and many houses 
were burned. The bungalow on the bank 
of the Jumna, which had been for many 
years a pleasant mission home, was plun- 
dered and fired. The church could not be 
burned, as it was built of strong masonry, 
but it was spoiled and defaced, and the 
mutineers took from the belfry the sweet- 
toned bell which so often had called to^eth- 
er the little con ere nation, and carried it off 
to a heathen temple. When the mutineers 
heard that the English soldiers were com- 
ing to the rescue of their countrymen, they 
were greatly alarmed, for they expected 
punishment. They could not restore the 
lives they had taken, but in some cases 
they returned the property they had stolen ; 
and in this way the church-bell was restored, 
and now from its former place rings out a 
welcome to the house of prayer. In an- 
swer to its summons from out of their 



222 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

homes the worshipers come trooping, fa- 
thers, mothers and children. 

The people of India have dark skins, 
but European features, and many of the 
children are very winsome, with their bright 
black eyes, regular features and free, grace- 
ful movements. The people of the East 
are fond of bright colors — scarlet, orange, 
violet^ blue and green — so that little chil- 
dren sometimes look like bits of rainbow. 
Durinor the hot season white is much worn, 
both by men and by women. The w^omen 
and the young girls wear over the head 
and shoulders a snow-white covering grace- 
fully arranged ; the men and the boys wear 
white robes and caps or turbans. A con- 
gregation of Christian natives is a pleasant 
si^ht. 

The people of India are fond of music, 
and all sing, even the children — not always 
in tune, it is true, but with a will, as though 
they heartily enjoyed it. 

Some of the members of the little con- 
gregation at the Jumna were once orphan- 
children left destitute and forsaken, without 
home or friends. They were received by 



A CHURCH ON THE RIVER JUMNA. 223 

the missionaries, kindly cared for and in- 
structed, and now are useful members of 
society and of the church. Some of the 
worshipers in this sanctuary were once 
heathen. The children love the Sabbath- 
school and commit to memory not only por- 
tions of the Scriptures, but sweet hymns. 
Some time ago a young girl, a member of 
this Sabbath-school, died. She had a pleas- 
ant disposition, was quick to learn, full of 
life and was a favorite with all. She was 
fond of sineinof, and in the Sabbath- school 
her voice rancr out sweet and clear. Dur- 
ing her illness, which lasted many weeks, 
she suffered greatly, but she was always 
gentle and patient. When she knew that 
she could not recover, she felt no fear, but 
with a beaming face and sparkling eyes 
talked of the dear Saviour to whom she 
w^as going and of the beautiful home he 
had prepared for her. The dear child, we 
doubt not, is now with Jesus and singing 
sweeter songs than any she had learned 
on earth. 

A little boy in Allahabad belonging to 
another Christian congregation had a pleas- 



224 ^^'^^ ABOUT INDIA. 

ant home, fond parents and affectionate 
brothers and sisters. He was a very happy 
Httle fellow, full of fun and frolic and always 
in motion. But one day, coming to his 
mother, he said, "I am ill." The next day 
he was worse, and as day after day he grew 
weaker and weaker his fond parents began 
to fear that their darling would be taken 
from them. The little boy bore his suffer- 
ings with great patience. When he had 
been some time ill, he called his friends 
around him one lovely Sabbath morning 
and said, as they stood about him in tears, 
"I am eoine to die, but I am not afraid. I 
hear the voice of Jesus calling me. He will 
go with me, and I shall be happy with him 
for ever." His eyes were full of light and 
his face wore an eaeer look, as if he lono^ed to 
go. " Call my little friends," he said ; " 1 want 
to tell them that I am glad to go to Jesus. 
I want to tell them to trust in Jesus too." 
With a beaming face and eager, out 
stretched hands he passed away. 

I will tell you of one other happy death 
among the Christians here. This was long 
ago, and the story has been beautifully told 



A CHURCH ON THE RIVER JUMNA. 225 

by a faithful missionary who has now gone 
to join the ransomed of the Lord. It is the 
story of a woman named Jatni. She was 
the daughter of a Brahman — that is, her 
father was a Brahman before he became a 
Christian. Jatni was married when she was 
but fifteen years old to a Christian young 
man, and came with her husband to Allah- 
abad. Jatni was very quiet and very dif- 
fident, but she soon had many friends in 
the Christian community. " All the men 
were ready to point to her as an example 
for their wives, and all the women, without 
envy or strife, acknowledged her as the 
most excellent person amongst them. She 
never quarreled nor slandered nor excited 
differences, but was a healer of divisions." 
The pleasant new neighbor who had so soon 
made a place for herself in the hearts of all 
was early called to bear heavy sorrows. Her 
first-born, a beautiful, winsome boy, was ta- 
ken from her loving arms after an illness of 
a day. Sorely the young mother grieved for 
her darling, but she did not murmur. '' It 
is the will of God," she said. Another 
precious son was sent to comfort her in her 



226 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

grief and loaeliness. He was the light of 
the little home only for a few brief months, 
and then went to join his angel-brother. 
The stricken mother even now lifted her 
tearful eyes heavenward, and between her 
sobs faltered out, " It is the Lord ; let him 
do what seemeth him good." A dear little 
daughter was next given to bless and to 
brighten the lonely home, but this sweet 
blossom was soon transplanted. Now, in 
the bitterness of her grief, the sorely- 
bereaved mother cried out, " Behold and 
see if there be any sorrow like unto my 
sorrow." But as one whom his mother 
comforteth, even in this hour did the Lord 
comfort his stricken child. Yet now the 
mother began to droop. Months of weak- 
ness and pain she patiently endured. She 
knew that she would not recover, but with 
eyes clear and voice calm and steady she 
said, "I know Christ, and can fully and 
completely trust him in all things. He 
keeps my mind in perfect peace." When 
the end was approaching, she called for her 
friends and assured them that Christ was 
with her, and that her heart was full of faith 



A CHURCH ON THE RIVER JUMNA. 22/ 

and joy. Then she bade all around her 
farewell and prayed for them. After this 
she was silent for a few moments, and then 
quietly and peacefully passed away. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

DEATH IN A HEATHEN HOUSEHOLD.— THE 
CONTKAST. 

IN a Hindu household at our very doors 
were three Httle boys, "black but 
comely." All day long they played in the 
sunshine, as happy and as free from care 
as the sporting lambs or the birds that 
warbled in the branches above them. Their 
merry shouts of laughter could be heard 
from morning until night. Constantly in 
motion, they were climbing, dancing, leap- 
ing, as if they found delight in mere ani- 
mal existence. Very poor were the parents, 
and they found it difficult to obtain food 
sufficient to fill the mouths of their hungry 
children ; happily, it was not necessary to 
take much thought for raiment. 

One morning the father called to tell us 
that one of his sons was ill. The boy 

228 



DEATH IN A FIE A THEN HOUSEHOID. 229 

languished through the day, and the parents 
in agony called upon their gods; "but 
there was no voice, nor any that answered." 
Very early the following morning there was 
borne to our ears the sound of bitter wail- 
ing. Springing up and throwing open the 
shutters, we inquired the cause. "Jag- 
lal is dead," was the answer. Around the 
little lifeless form gathered the parents and 
the sobbing brothers, and poured out their 
tears and bitter lamentations until the very 
air seemed freighted with anguish. Through 
all the morning hours that low wailing 
sound was heard, for the parents in this 
country, as in other lands, love their chil- 
dren fondly and account the death of a 
child, especially of a son, as a great ca- 
lamity. 

How hopeless seemed the sorrow of 
these stricken parents ! In their affliction 
there was no thought of the chastening as 
a portion meted out to them by a loving 
Father's hand; it was, instead, a punish- 
ment inflicted upon them by an angry god. 
''What had they done," they questioned, 
" that they should be so sorely bereaved ? 



230 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

Had they not presented from time to time 
such offerings as they were able?" The 
Httle form they had loved so dearly would 
soon be hid from their sight, and for ever : 
their creed gave them no hope for the 
future. The child they had petted and 
fondled — what would it become ? A tree, 
an animal, an insect or a bird ? To them 
the child was lost, and lost eternally. No 
wonder, then, that their sorrow seemed 
heavier than they could bear. They had 
no such comfort in their sorrow and be- 
reavement as Christian parents have in 
theirs. To them death was only blackness 
and the grave was dark as midnight. 

A few hours after the death of the child 
the little form was wrapped in a bit of new 
cloth, and the father, accompanied by a 
few friends, bore the body in his arms to 
the Ganges and cast it upon the bosom of 
the sacred stream. When it had quite 
disappeared from view, with empty arms 
and achinor heart the bereaved father re- 
turned to his desolate home. 

One cold season, after we had spent 
several weeks in tents, moving from village 



DEATH IN A HEATHEN HOUSEHOLD. 23 1 

to village in order to carry the gospel to 
those living at a distance remote from the 
great centres, before we returned to our 
home, as the weather grew warm, two or 
three unoccupied bungalows were placed 
at our disposal. One of these was built 
upon a high bank overlooking the Jumna, 
at this point a broad and beautiful river. 
It was the middle of March, and the time 
of wheat-harvest. Following the reapers 
were the gleaners, glad, by gathering the 
stray sheaves, to provide a portion of food 
for themselves and for their households. 
Up and down the broad river passed curious 
native boats laden with wheat or cotton, or 
other merchandise. 

Looking out one day, we saw a funeral- 
procession slowly moving down the bank 
to the water's edge. Upon a bed was laid 
a dead body, covered with a cloth. When 
the bearers had set down their burden, 
preparations were made for bathing the 
body, after which it was laid upon a small 
pile of fagots ; and when it had been 
merely blackened, it was cast into the 
river. 



232 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

Another day a body was brought to a 
little point of land that jutted far out into 
the river ; to this place had been brought 
a large pile of fagots. The deceased 
evidently belonged to a high-caste family 
of considerable means. Several Brahman 
priests were in attendance, and performed 
the ceremonies customary upon such occa- 
sions. When all was in readiness, the 
body was placed upon the funeral-pile and 
covered with a new cloth. Upon a woman, 
in this case, devolved the duty of lighting 
the funeral-pile. This woman walked sev- 
eral times around the pile with a little 
bundle of burninor faggots in her hand before 
setting it on fire. Applying the torch, the 
pile was instantly ablaze, and as the flames 
leaped up the woman turned her face away 
from the sight and uttered a loud and 
piercing cry. When the body had been 
partially consumed, the fire was extin- 
guished, and the charred remains were 
cast into the river. 

What a sad funeral it was ! and how 
different from a Christian burial ! We lay 
our dead reverently in the grave — with 



DEATH IN A HEATHEN HOUSEHOLD. 233 

tearful eyes and sorrowing hearts, it is true, 
but we are not left comfortless : " If we 
believe that Jesus died and rose again, 
even so them also which sleep in Jesus will 
God bring with him ;" but the poor heathen 
has no such hope in his sorrow. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

BENARES, AND ITS SCHOOLS FOR HEATHEN 
GIRLS. 

TO the devout Hindu the Ganges Is an 
object of worship from its source 
amid the snows of the Himalayas until it 
loses itself in the Bay of Bengal. The 
cities on the banks of the Ganges are 
naturally regarded as sacred, but the city 
of Benares is considered pre-eminently 
holy. It is a very ancient city — just how 
old is not known, but it was great and 
prosperous twenty-five centuries ago. The 
city stretches along the banks of the river 
Ganges for nearly three miles, and there 
are flights of handsome stone steps — or 
ghats, as they are called — leading from the 
temples and palaces and from the narrow 
streets to the water's edge. On these 
broad steps there are always throngs of 

234 



BENARES. 235 

people — the old and the young, the rich and 
the poor, the sad and the gay — all anx- 
ious to bathe in the sacred river whose 
waters they are taught to believe will 
cleanse them from all sin. Great numbers 
of priests are constantly In attendance, 
and these receive liberal offerings from 
the people. 

While on a visit to Benares we joined a 
party of friends in an excursion on the 
river, and on that occasion had a fine view 
of the temples with their glittering domes 
and pinnacles, the stately palaces and the 
crowds of people flocking to the sacred 
places. Before we reached home the sun 
had set, and as darkness settled down over 
the city lights flashed from the temples, 
and out upon the gloomy river shot little 
vessels filled with oil in which lighted tapers 
had been placed. Each litde lamp, as it 
rose and fell upon the water, was watched 
with anxious eyes, for it had been launched 
with a prayer to some heathen divinity. 
Should the light be quickly extinguished, 
this was accepted as an Indication that the 
god was not pleased to grant the request; 



236 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

if it floated on unextinguished, it was 
believed that the prayer would be an- 
swered. 

Benares is a city full of temples and 
shrines. Idols great and small are found 
not only in temples, but in niches in the 
walls. Indeed, there are idols everywhere. 
And not only are dumb idols worshiped, 
but animals also. One large temple is 
devoted to monkeys ; another, to sacred 
cattle. There are sacred wells and tanks. 

Benares has also its busy bazaars and 
its shops filled with many beautiful and 
curious things ; but nothing in this teeming 
city interested us so much as the schools 
for girls we found there. In one school 
which we visited there were more than a 
hundred heathen girls. Many of these chil- 
dren came from homes of great poverty and 
were very scantily clothed. One child, as 
she came forward with her class to recite, 
held in her arms a babe, thin and ill, that 
clung to her and moaned. The little sister 
was not impatient, but very tenderly rocked 
the puny creature in her arms. Many of 
the children in this school could read well. 



238 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

They had learned much of the Bible, and 
they sang several hymns very sweetly. 

In the second school which we visited 
the children were more comfortably clothed, 
and such bright, happy faces as they wore 
it was a delight to see. How eager they 
were to learn, and how proud of their 
attainments ! Here, too, they had learned 
to sing Christian hymns, and several of 
the children recited the " old, old story " 
as it had been translated from Eno-lish into 
their own language. 

The third and last school which we at 
this time visited in Benares is supported by 
a Hindu nobleman who founded the school 
for the education of the daughters of high- 
caste natives. The school speedily became 
popular, and at the time of our visit twenty- 
one teachers were employed and six hun- 
dred pupils were in attendance. As we 
went from room to room our hearts were 
full of eratitude that in so idolatrous a 

o 

city such a school was possible. In one 
department we found girls grown almost 
to womanhood, many of them well dressed 
and adorned with jewels. Maps were on 



BENARES. 239 

the walls and books and slates on the 
tables, while the ready answers and the 
eager looks showed that learning" was a 
delight. In some of the rooms the chil- 
dren were learning the alphabet. They 
held in their hands pieces of tin or small, 
thin bits of board, upon which, with a reed 
pen dipped in a chalky mixture, they tried 
to copy the letters made by the teacher. 
In some of the classes the children were 
reading fluently; in others, learning geog- 
raphy ; in others, working examples in 
arithmetic. One large room was occupied 
by the sewing-class. The girls were not 
learning plain sewing, but were making 
beautiful fancy articles. 

" Why do they make those things?" we 
asked. "They can have no use for them." 

" They are made for the nobleman who 
supports the school," was answered. "All 
the materials are furnished, and the maha- 
rajah is pleased to present these articles to 
his friends." 

All the children in this school were from 
high-caste families, and some of the num- 
ber wore many and handsome jewels. 



240 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

When they moved about the room, the or- 
naments upon their feet and ankles made 
a tinkhnof sound. The children in this 
school do not receive Christian instruction, 
but to see so large a number of high-caste 
girls learning to read, and learning, be- 
sides, many useful lessons, in a school 
carefully superintended, the whole' sup- 
ported at a great cost by a native prince 
and in a city like Benares, is certainly most 
encouraging. 



CHAPTER XX. 

OTHER SCHOOLS FOR HEATHEN GIRLS. 

SOME time ago we paid a visit to South 
India, and there saw several very in- 
teresting schools. The first which we vis- 
ited was for heathen girls in the city of 
Vellore. The girls in this school were 
chiefly from well-to-do families, and were 
comfortably clothed and quite neat in ap- 
pearance. Many of them wore gayly- 
colored jackets, and the bright colors con- 
trasted pleasantly with the dark skin. A 
large number of the girls could not only 
read and write well, but they knew some- 
thing, also, of geography, arithmetic, gram- 
mar and the history of their own country. 
They had been taught to sew, and the dark 
eyes sparkled with pleasure when some 
specimens of needlework were exhibited 
and the neatly-made garments called forth 

16 241 



242 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

well-merited praise. Better than all else, 
these girls had learned much of the Bible 
and the Saviour therein made known, for 
the wife and the daughter of the missionary 
living- in Vellore had in their own lovinof 
way instructed them in these things. The 
parents of the children were proud of their 
attainments and gladly availed themselves 
of the opportunities afforded for the in- 
struction of their daughters, though a few 
years ago it was considered very improper 
for a woman to be at all enlightened. 

The place in which this school met, like 
many of the dwellings of the East, consisted 
of a large number of rooms opening into a 
central court. Sitting on the ground in this 
court, only the clear sky above them, were 
several little girls learning the Tamil alpha- 
bet, but they had neither book, slate nor 
blackboard. Fine clear sand to a consid- 
erable depth had been spread upon the 
ground in the form of a square, and around 
this sat the little girls writing in the sand, 
with the fore finger of the right hand mak- 
ing a letter, then with their fat little hands 
smoothing the sand and making the same 



OTHER SCHOOLS FOR HEATHEN GIRLS. 243 

letter aeain until the teacher was satisfied. 
Learning the alphabet in this way was 
nearly as good as play to the children. It 
was a wise plan, too, for, while they learned 
to distinguish the letters one from another, 
they also learned to form them. When 
they had in this way learned all the al- 
phabet, they were promoted to a higher 
class. 

In another school which we visited the 
copybooks were brought us for inspection. 
They were made, not of paper, but of strips 
of the dried leaf of the Palmyra palm. 
These strips were about a foot in length 
and about two inches in width. Instead 
of a pen a little pointed steel instrument 
was used in writing. Through one end of 
each strip a hole was pierced, and the leaves 
of the book were then strung together. 

We saw loads of this curious stationery 
on the way to the bazaar for sale. It is not 
only used in schools, but the accounts of 
shopkeepers are preserved in these leaf- 
books. On such strips records are kept, 
and even letters are written. 

A third school which we visited was in 



244 ^/r.S- ABOUT INDIA. 

Trevandrum, the capital of Travancore. 
This Httle kingdom is governed by a very 
enhghtened native prince ; his palace is 
within the fort. Here is also a large and 
very sacred heathen temple. Several in- 
ferior princes and nobles, as well as a large 
number of hi^h-caste natives, reside within 
the fort. The fort is enclosed by a high 
wall, and within the gates no person of low 
caste is allowed to dwell. 

Several years ago one of the w^ealthy 
natives built for himself a fine house with 
large pleasant rooms. When the house 
was ready for occupancy, the owner heard 
at various times strange sounds which he 
could not understand, and, supposing that 
the house was haunted, could not be induced 
to take possession. About this time an 
English lady, as she read and heard about 
India's needs and how ignorant were the 
children in the most favored families, re- 
solved to leave her pleasant home and 
devote her life to teaching the women and 
children of that dark land. She came to 
Trevandrum, and, won by the lady's kind 
face and pleasant words, several families of 



246 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

influence at length consented to place their 
daughters under her instruction. A suitable 
building was required, and the lady, hearing 
of the haunted house, visited it, and findino; 
it well adapted to her purpose, and having 
no fear of the evil spirits supposed by the 
owner to dwell there, secured it for her 
school. It was in this fine building that we 
s-aw assembled a large company of happy 
children. The girls were evidently very 
fond of the school and of the kind lady in 
charge. All the children were taught to 
read and to write in their own language, 
and some of the older ones were also being 
taught to read and to write the English 
language. These bright-eyed girls were 
learning to use the needle with skill, and 
some of the specimens of work shown 
us were really beautiful. 

In many families in India, even among 
the wealthy, the women are very ignorant. 
They have never learned to employ their 
hands, as the household occupations are 
left to servants ; they therefore spend their 
time in a very idle manner — eating, sleep- 
ing, oiling and braiding their long black 



OTHER SCHOOLS FOR HEATHEN GIRLS. 247 

hair, In admiring and counting their jewels, 
and, it must be confessed, not infrequently in 
gossiping and quarreling. But the children 
taught in these schools, when they become 
women, will have wiser, more womanly 
occupations. 

We were both surprised and delighted to 
find how much precious Bible truth the girls 
in this school had learned. They knew 
much of the Saviour, of his life on earth 
and the work he came to do. They could 
repeat many precious passages of Scripture, 
and they sang very sweedy many Chris- 
tian hymns. 

Will not the reader pray for the heathen 
girls gathered into schools in India that they 
may not only learn about Jesus, but accept 
him as the Saviour and their Saviour? 



CHAPTER XXI. 

SCHOOLS FOR CHRISTIAN GIRLS. 

AT the foot of the Himalayas, and sep- 
iV arated from the plains by a range of 
low mountains, is a very lovely valley more 
than two thousand feet above the level of 
the sea. This valley is about sixty miles 
long and ten miles wide, and is bounded 
by the Ganges on one end and by the Jum- 
na on the other. In the midst of this beau- 
tiful doon, or valley, is the pretty town of 
Dehra. Set in the midst of orrounds taste- 
fully laid out, shaded by trees of luxuriant 
foliage and bright with flowers of richest 
hues, are many pleasant homes. Some of 
the roads in and around Dehra are hedged 
■with roses, and here and there are clumps 
of the feathery bamboo. Lofty, majestic 
Himalayan peaks are in full view, and on 
the slopes of the mountains eight or ten 



SCFIOOLS FOR CHRISTIAN GIRLS. 249 

miles distant nestle the white houses com- 
posing the picturesque towns of Landour 
and Mussooril. 

A lovely spot is this town of Dehra, with 
its attractive homes, its fair and fragrant 
gardens and its glorious outlook, but to me 
the brightest spot in this fair valley is the 
large and fine school established about a 
quarter of a century ago for the daughters 
of Christian natives. Very few of these 
children in their own homes could be trained 
to such habits of neatness, order and indus- 
try as are essential to the formation of a 
symmetrical character, since many of the 
mothers themselves have received little 
education or training. 

In this school the children are received 
as into a home, and are taught to prize its 
privileges and to bear each her share of its 
duties and responsibilities. They are 
taught to keep in a tidy condidon their 
rooms, to make them cheerful and tasteful 
with womanly devices, to make their own 
clothing, and in order to inculcate a thought- 
ful, unselfish care for others each one of the 
older girls has in her care one of the young- 



250 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

er pupils, for whose neat and tidy appear- 
ance she is responsible. 

It is pleasant to watch the kindling of the 
eyes and to note the light beaming from 
the countenances of these eirls in the class- 
room as some new truth is comprehended. 
One of the girls educated in this school has 
taken the high position of a graduate in 
arts of the University of Calcutta, the first 
woman in India who has attained to this 
degree. Some of the daughters educated 
in this school are now the wives of native 
pastors and teachers ; others are themselves 
teachers ; while others, in homes of their 
own, are doing their duty more faithfully, 
are making their homes brighter, purer 
and happier, because of the influence and 
education of this school. 

I have told you in a previous chapter of 
the large and important school established 
in the city of Benares by a native prince 
for the daughters of high-caste families. 
Another school which I visited in the same 
city gave me much pleasure : this was the 
normal school for the traininor of native 
Christian girls. I saw the pupils first in the 



SCHOOLS FOR CHRISTIAN GIRLS. 2$ I 

chapel when they had assembled for morn- 
ing prayers, a large number of neady- 
dressed girls with happy and intelligent 
faces ; later I saw them in their classes, and 
marked the interest manifested in their les- 
sons and the prompt and correct answers. 
Deftly they had learned to use the needle, 
fashioning dainty garments which the " high- 
est lady in the land " might wear with pride 
and pleasure. I saw some of those who 
had passed the full course of instruction in 
this school giving instruction in other 
schools and acquitting themselves with 
great credit. Bishop Speechly of Travan- 
core, a visitor from the far South, writes of 
this school, " It is one of the most beautiful 
things in mission work I have seen." 

When, a few years ago, we paid a visit 
to the South of India, we spent a Sabbath 
in the hospitable home of Bishop and Mrs. 
Sargent — a precious, never-to-be-forgotten 
Sabbath. Quite near the residence of the 
bishop was the church, a spacious edifice 
with seating accommodation for an audience 
of fifteen hundred. On the day we wor- 
shiped there the congregation numbered 



252 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

nine hundred and fifty-nine, and a more In- 
teresting congregation we had not seen in 
India, the audience, adults and young peo- 
ple, so reverent, so attentive and apparently 
so intellio^ent. 

But a short distance from the bishop's 
own dwelling was a boarding-school for 
the daughters of Christian natives ; In this 
school Mrs. Sargent felt a very deep inter- 
est. Becomingly clad, graceful and polite 
in demeanor, the girls belonging to this 
school filed into the drawlne-room on the 
evening of our arrival, and in low, sweet 
voices sang several Christian hymns. We 
saw these girls as they marched past the 
house on their way to the sanctuary on the 
Sabbath. Reverent In manner, as became 
the day and the service, it was a sight to fill 
the heart with gratitude. When the service 
at the church was over, the girls, fifty-eight 
in number, met Mrs. Sargent in one of the 
rooms of her own dwelling. Together they 
sang a hymn of praise, then in her own 
loving way Mrs. Sargent questioned them 
about the sermon to which they had just 
listened. Each girl held in her hand her 



SCHOOLS FOR CHRISTIAN GIRLS. 253 

Bible, to which she frequently turned for 
references bearing on the subject under 
review. The hour closed with prayer, after 
which, in thoughtful mood, the girls returned 
to their own quarters. We saw them again 
the following day, when, their school-lessons 
over, they gathered in the broad, pleasant 
verandas around Mrs. Sargent's own room 
to receive instruction in needlework ; and 
while their hands were thus usefully em- 
ployed precious words of truth and wisdom 
fell from the lips of the beloved lady who 
joyfully spent her strength in such Christ- 
like service. 

But this faithful laborer in the vineyard of 
the Master is not, for the Lord has called her 
to himself. Suddenly the summons came 
to her to '*go up higher." On the last Satur- 
day afternoon of Mrs. Sargent's life she had 
her girls, as usual, to pray for God's bless- 
ing and to prepare them for the duties and 
the privileges of the coming Sabbath. Be- 
fore separating they sang together that 
beautiful hymn "Safe in the arms of Jesus." 
On the morning of the following Tuesday 
Mrs. Sargent passed away, and on the 



254 ^ITS ABOUT INDIA. 

morning of Wednesday her body was com- 
mitted to the grave. Standing around the 
open tomb after the officiating clergyman 
had pronounced the benediction, the girls 
of Mrs. Sargent's boarding-school sang 
alone, in a softened strain, the first verse of 
the hymn, the last in which they had joined 
with their beloved teacher and friend, " Safe 
in the arms of Jesus." 

Surely the girls trained under Mrs. Sar- 
gent's faithful care will never forget her 
wise and loving counsels. If disposed to 
be cast down in trouble, they will hear 
again the voice that so often said to them 
when schoolgirl trials seemed hard to bear, 
'* Where is the smiling face the Christian 
ought to wear?" If tempted to be remiss 
in duty or prodigal of time and opportunity, 
they will hear the voice of the one who was 
for so many years their guide, in tones of 
gentle reproach whisper, as was her wont, 
" When the Master comes, he must find me 
at my work ; Jesus claims all our time and 
all our powers." 

We left Palamcottah at twilight one 
evening, and traveled all night in a con- 



SCHOOLS FOR CHRISTIAN GIRLS. 255 

veyance drawn by bullocks. Just as the 
day was breaking we saw against the sky 
the tall and graceful spire of a Christian 
church. We were in the midst of a great 
sandy desert where only thorn-bushes and 
castor-oil shrubs seemed to grow, and the 
only tree that thrived was the Palmyra palm. 
Yet here in the desert was an imposing 
Gothic church edifice crowned with a beau- 
tiful spire. Not far from the church was a 
village numberine less than a thousand 
souls. Through this village was a broad 
street with rows of feathery palms on 
either side. Around the church the desert 
rejoiced and blossomed as the rose. There 
were fine trees luxuriant in foliage, grace- 
ful creepers and lovely flowers in pro- 
fusion and variety. There, too, was a 
Christian home as well as large and hand- 
some school-buildings. We were welcomed 
to this paradise in the desert by Mrs. 
Thomas, widow of the Rev. John Thomas, 
who came to this spot in the wilderness 
in the year 1837. -^ desert it was indeed 
at that time, but wells were dug, buildings 
erected and trees planted ; and the springs 



256 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

opened In the dry and thirsty land caused 
the wilderness and the solitary place to 
blossom abundandy. 

The corner-stone of the spacious church- 
edifice was laid on the 26th of June, 1843, 
and on the same glad occasion the corner- 
stone of a large and commodious building 
designed as a boarding-school for native 
Christian o-irls was also laid. 

Does any one wonder why so noble a 
church-building and boarding-school were 
required in such a place ? This desert- 
land, rich only in Palmyra palms, has been 
a field gready blessed of the Lord. There 
are in the district of Mengnanapuram 
alone more than eighteen thousand persons 
in connecdon with one hundred and eighty- 
seven congregations, and in the various 
schools in the district are gathered over 
four thousand children. 

When, In the year 1868, the top stone 
of the spire of the Mengnanapuram church 
was laid, a short thankso-ivlne service was 
first held within the church, when one 
thousand native children joined In singing 
the Doxology. The audience then stood 



SCHOOLS FOR CHRISTIAN GIRLS. 257 

outside the building while the stone was 
adjusted, and at a given signal four thou- 
sand happy voices shouted, " Glory be to 
God !" taking up again and again the 
triumphant refrain until the desert rang 
with the joyful sound. Two years after 
this memorable occasion the faithful mis- 
sionary whose labors God had so signally 
blessed laid aside his armor and went up to 
take his crown, leaving this beautiful church 
as his monument, and beneath its shadow 
he sleeps, waiting for the morning of the 
resurrection. 

Mrs. Thomas and her daughter remain 
in the home hallowed by so many sacred 
and tender associations, that they may 
labor among the people for whom the 
husband and father laid down his life. 
The boarding-school for the daughters of 
Christian natives is their especial care. 
From the village schools scattered through- 
out the district those pupils are selected to 
enjoy the privileges of this school who, it is 
felt, will best appreciate and improve its ad- 
vantages. Of the influence exerted upon 
children thus placed under Christian in- 

17 



258 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

struction Bishop Sargent says, " What in- 
fluence does the kind and consistent char- 
acter of the missionary's wife bear on these 
children ! Fed with food convenient for 
them, well clad and trained to cleanly and 
regular habits, the moral and religious 
feelings exercised, children of very ordi- 
nary, and even forbidding, looks are turned 
into pleasing and attractive beings." 

We set out from Mengnanapuram just 
at nightfall for another journey through the 
desert. It was not a long journey — less than 
twenty miles — but it occupied the entire 
night, a night of strange stillness, the 
creaking of the great wheels of the cart as 
they slowly turned in the trackless sand 
almost the only sound that broke upon our 
ears ; but with the coming of the dawn we 
passed out of the desert into another 
paradise in the wilderness, Edeyenkoody — 
literally, " shepherds' village " — where for 
more than forty years the Rev. R. Cald- 
well (now Bishop Caldwell) has lived and 
labored. 

When this faithful shepherd first made 
his home in this place, Edeyenkoody was 



SCHOOLS FOR CHRISTIAN GIRLS. 259 

but a desert ; now India boasts no fairer 
spot. In the midst of tasteful grounds 
rich in noble trees, blossoming shrubs and 
graceful creepers was set the home of 
Bishop Caldwell and his family. The vil- 
lage of Edeyenkoody was indeed a model 
village, with its broad, straight street, its 
tidy homes and its happy people. A 
spacious Gothic church-edifice designed 
to seat one thousand two hundred persons 
was in process of erection at the time of 
our visit. 

Outside this little Eden all was desert, 
but in the sandy waste the Palmyra palm 
flourished, and here too Christianity had 
triumphed gloriously over heathenism the 
densest and grossest. Scattered over the 
district were Christian villages and congre- 
gations, churches, prayer-houses and schools. 

At Edeyenkoody, as at Palamcottah and 
Mengnanapuram, we found a large board- 
inor-school for grirls. Into this school were 
gathered the more promising daughters of 
the Christian natives from the district. 
Carefully they were trained, that when 
they returned to their rural homes they 



26o BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

might be " specimens and patterns to the 
rest of the people of what Christian women 
ought to be, thus raising the character of 
the female portion of the community." 

I fancy I see before me now the long line 
of neatly-dressed girls as they filed past 
the home of the missionary bishop and 
passed into the church. Nothing in con- 
nection with our delightful visit to Edeyen- 
koody do we remember with more pleas- 
ure than the school where so many of the 
daughters of the land were being trained 
for future usefulness. 

Another night of travel by bullock- 
cart ; and when the morning dawned, we 
stood on the seashore at Cape Comorin, 
the Land's End of India. Loudly the waves 
thundered against the rocky shore, sending 
out sheets of foam. There were groves 
of palms within a few rods of the shore, and 
there, too, were many temples ; for Cape 
Comorin is one of the places of pilgrimage 
sacred to the Hindu. We remained by the 
sea until late in the afternoon, and then set 
out on our journey to Nagercoil, only a few 
miles distant. Here the Sabbath was spent 



SCHOOLS FOR CHRISTIAN GIRLS. 26 1 

in the pleasant home of a missionary and his 
wife. It was our privilege on this Sab- 
bath to worship with a large and very in- 
teresting congregation in a spacious church 
the corner-stone of which was laid by the 
Rev. Richard Knill on the ist of January, 
18 19. The people of this congregation had 
just completed, at their own cost, a fine 
school-building near the church, and here, 
on the afternoon of the Sabbath, an inter- 
estinor children's service was held. 

On Monday we paid a visit to the excel- 
lent boarding-school for the daughters of 
the Christian natives connected with the 
congregations of this flourishing mission. 
This school was established more than sev- 
enty years ago, and has accomplished a 
noble work in the education of several 
generations of daughters. At the time of 
our visit the school was in the care of Mrs. 
Lee, wife of the Rev. William Lee. 

I will speak of only one other boarding- 
school for Christian girls. This is at Cot- 
taeam, on the western coast of India. The 
school is now, as it has been for sixty-Jive 
years, superintended by Mrs. Henry Baker, 



262 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

Sr., and not only superintended, but the 
pupils are personally instructed by this 
remarkable Christian lady. Mrs. Baker 
pointed out to us girls whose mothers, 
grandmothers and great-grandmothers have 
been educated in this school under her 
tuition. His Highness the late maharajah 
of Travancore not long before his death 
paid a visit to this school, examined the 
pupils in their studies and expressed him- 
self much gratified with the result, sending 
afterward a considerable sum of money to 
be expended in prizes for the most deserv- 
ing pupils. 

Many years ago the Rev. Henry Baker, 
Sr., one of Travancore's most devoted mis- 
sionaries, was called home to his reward ; 
several years have passed since the Rev. 
Henry Baker, Jr., who followed in the foot- 
steps of his father, also entered into rest, 
but the wife and mother, her heart wedded 
to the work in which her life since her early 
youth has been spent, still continues to 
labor, thinking not of rest until the Master 
shall summon her home. 

Who can estimate the influence of this 



SCHOOLS FOR CHRISTIAN GIRLS. 263 

one consecrated life ? Is there no hope for 
India, when all over the land are found such 
nurseries of piety ? May each child trained 
in these schools be like a lamp which shall 
shed its gleam far out into the darkness of 
India's night ! 



CHAPTER XXII. 

SACRED BEASTS AND BIRDS, 
SACRED MONKEYS. 

ONE of the largest temples In the city 
of Benares Is devoted to monkeys. 
Some time ago we visited this temple, 
and saw, running over Its roof, climbing Its 
pillars and scampering over the walls of the 
enclosure, more monkeys than I could count 
— some very large and old and gray, and 
some very young and small. There was 
In this temple a bell that the worshipers 
struck when they presented their offerings. 
The monkeys would climb to the bell and 
strike the hammer against the sides of the 
bell, just as they saw the people do. 

While we were In the temple people came 
to bring offerings. When grain was thrown 
to the monkeys, they crowded around, chat- 
tered and pushed one another until their 

264 



SACRED BEASTS AND BIRDS. 26$ 

hunger was satisfied or the food exhausted. 
Some of the older monkeys, with baby- 
monkeys in their care, would take the little 
creatures in their arms, and, climbing a wall 
or a part of the temple above our reach, 
would sit and look at us very gravely. 

I went into a school one day to hear some 
little Hindu girls read. The book that one 
of the children held in her hand was very 
badly torn ; and when I asked her how it 
had happened, she said, "A monkey did 
it." 

A gentleman was one day packing his 
trunk for a journey, when a monkey came 
in at the door and carried away a pair of 
gloves. 

The monkeys in this temple do a great 
deal of mischief in the houses and in the 
gardens near, but no one would dare to 
injure them. 

A few years ago two officers in India 
were very much annoyed by a large mon- 
key. One of the men, to defend himself, 
raised his gun and shot the animal. When 
the people knew what had been done, they 
were not only frightened, but were very 



266 BITS ABOUT INDIA, 

angry, and began to hurl stones at the offi- 
cers, injuring them so much that, as the 
only means of saving their lives, they 
mounted the back of their elephant and 
ordered the driver to go as quickly as pos- 
sible to the Jumna River, which was not 
far off, and let the elephant swim across. 
He did so ; and though elephants can swim 
well, yet the water at the time was so very 
high, and the river so wide, that elephant 
and riders were all drowned. 

SACRED BULLS. 

To kill a cow is considered by the Hindus 
as a very great crime. In one of the 
cities in India where we lived several years 
ago I saw almost every day in the bazar a 
large sacred bull. The shopkeepers in In- 
dia usually place on the little verandas be- 
fore their shops samples of the kind of 
things they have for sale. The grain-mer- 
chants set out baskets filled with various 
kinds of grain — wheat, barley, rice, corn, 
and other kinds that you have never seen. 
This great creature would come to one of 
these shops and eat as much grain as he 



SACRED BEASTS AND BIRDS. 



267 



wanted, and the shopkeeper would not 
disturb him. 

A few years ago in the streets of Be- 
nares were seen great numbers of these 




A SACRED BULL. 



sacred bulls. They were very troublesome, 
and people could not walk about comfort- 
ably ; so the magistrates issued an order 
commanding them to be removed from the 
streets. The people were greatly troubled, 
and said, " What can we do ? We must not 



268 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

let these creatures suffer. We will build a 
temple for them." So they built a very 
large and very fine temple, and into it they 
gathered the sacred animals ; and there 
they are still fed and cared for, the people 
constantly coming to bring their offerings. 

THE PEACOCK. 

The peacock is a sacred bird, and, of 
course, it is regarded as a crime to kill one. 
About five years ago we went with a party 
of missionaries to a part of the country 
where white people had never before gone. 
Our tents were pitched in a pleasant grove, 
because, although it was winter, we needed 
the shade of the trees to protect us from 
the sun. This grove was full of peacocks. 

The peacock is a bird with very fine 
feathers, but his voice is not pleasant. The 
little robin that comes to sing with the first 
warm days of spring has a plain brown 
coat, but his voice is full of music. We 
did not like the screaming of so many 
peacocks, especially as they were never 
quiet at night, and disturbed our sleep very 
much. As the pea-fowl is good for food, 



SACRED BEASTS AND BIRDS. 269 

we proposed that one should be shot. We 
thought not only that this would give us a 
dinner, but that the noise of the gun would 
frighten away the rest. A missionary who 
had been many years in the country said, 

" No ; do not shoot them. They are no 
more sacred than any of the other creatures 
God has made, but the poor natives think 
them so, and would be greatly displeased 
if even one should be killed. They have 
never heard of the Saviour. We have 
come to tell them of him ; and if we dis- 
please them by taking the life of one of 
those birds, they will not listen to our 
words." 

SACRED FISH. 

A few weeks ago we saw people wor- 
shiping fish in a tank which had been made 
to receive the water from a spring that 
issued from the ground at the foot of a 
very high mountain. The tank was full of 
fish, and the water was so clear that we 
could see every movement of the active 
little fishes. These fish were regarded as 
very sacred ; no one was allowed to catch 
or injure them, but they were fed with the 



270 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

choicest food by the people who came to 
worship them. They brought not only 
wheat, rice and little cakes made of fine 
fiour, but milk, and even roses. In a 
sheltered place near the edge of the water 
a priest sat all day to feed the fish. Many 
times during the day people came to bring 
their offerings, not only to the fish, but to 
the priests who cared for them. 

YES, AND SNAKES ! 

Snakes are worshiped. The people 
think that by making offerings to them 
they will receive blessings. For many 
years a large snake lived about one of the 
temples of India. The people regarded 
the ugly creature as the god of the temple, 
and of course he was not disturbed, but 
milk and food of whatever kind he liked 
was brought him in abundance. At length 
a European in traveling about the country 
came to this temple, and seeing the large 
snake crawling about, and fearing some 
one would be injured by it, killed it. It 
soon became known, and the people were 
greatly enraged. They said to the man, 



SACRED BEASTS AND BIRDS. 2/1 

'' This was the god that gave us the rain. 
Our fields are parched. You have killed 
our god, and the rain will no more visit us, 
and we and our little ones will perish." 

They were so angry that the man was 
afraid he should be killed by them. He 
said to them, 

" The rain will surely come again. This 
serpent could not give you rain." 

They answered angrily, 

" He has brought us the rain for many 
years. When our fields were withered, we 
have brought him offerings, and in return 
he has sent refreshing showers." 

The poor man did not know what to do 
to quiet the people, but he asked God to 
help him. At length he said, 

" I tell you that rain will come again ; 
and if it comes again, and soon, will you let 
me go in peace?" 

They consented at last, and the man 
prayed earnestly to God to give the people 
rain. His prayer was answered. Heavy 
showers soon refreshed the parched fields, 
and the people then permitted him to de- 
part. 



2/2 BITS ABOUT INDIA. 

THE BAT. 

A traveler in India a few years ago shot 
a bat. The noise of the gun brought all 
the people out of their houses ; and when 
they saw that one of the creatures which 
they regard as sacred had been wounded, 
they set up a piercing cry and surrounded 
the man who had committed the deed. 
The man began to fear that he could 
not escape ; but when they became a little 
more quiet, he told them that he was 
very sorry for what he had done, and 
promised to be more careful in the future. 
He was then allowed to return to his tent, 
and he went away very thankful for his 
deliverance. 

Are you not glad that you live in a coun- 
try where the life of a human being is con- 
sidered of more consequence than that of 
a cow, a monkey, a snake or a bat ? and 
will you not pity and pray for those who, 
instead of worshiping God, worship idols 
and the creatures God has made ? 

THE END. 












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